Political shift in the industrial
heart By Anil Netto
PENANG - A torrential downpour drenched
the northern state of Penang during the late
afternoon of Malaysia's March 8 general election
day. Many political analysts had earlier
anticipated some waves of democratic change for
the area, the country's only state with an ethnic
Chinese majority; few anticipated the political
tsunami which actually ensued.
Penang,
like many other areas of the country fed up with
corruption, discriminatory policies towards
minorities, general disillusionment with public
institutions and a rising cost of living, was ripe
for political change. The combined opposition
secured 29 of Penang's 40-seat assembly, with the
Democratic Action Party (DAP) clinching 19 of
those parliamentary spots.
The democratic
writing was perhaps on the wall when,
nights
before
the polling, the DAP turned out some 60,000
supporters who chanted and roared as they listened
to speaker after speaker urge the crowd to deny
the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition the
two-thirds majority it sought.
Penang was
a particularly closely watched electoral
battleground, not least because it is the home
state of both Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and
opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy
premier and de facto head of the People's Justice
Party (PKR). The state is also the center of
Malaysia's crucial electronics industry, with many
multinational corporations in residence, and hence
a good barometer of the national economic mood.
The largely Chinese-based DAP launched a
concerted electoral challenge for the state, which
included campaigning by many of the party's big
guns. One of the earliest indications that a major
swing was in the cards was when the results at a
small polling station on Penang Hill, previously a
ruling coalition area, showed that voters had
dumped the BN by a wide margin.
As the
night wore on, it was clear that Gerakan, a party
contained in the ruling BN coalition which
historically held sway in Penang, had been
completely wiped out, losing all 13 of its state
seats. The party had held power in Penang, its
jewel in the crown of national politics, for
almost 40 years. By 11:30 pm, the state's outgoing
chief minister, Koh Tsu Koon, a University of
Chicago doctorate holder in economics and
sociology, graciously conceded defeat.
The
state's new chief minister will be Lim Guan Eng,
the secretary general of the DAP. An economics
graduate and professional accountant, Lim was a
senior bank executive before he turned to
politics. He moved quickly to assure foreign
investors in the state, which includes scores of
Japanese, US and other multinational corporations.
"We wish to assure both local and foreign
investors that we are fully cognizant of the
importance of their major contribution to our
state's economy," he told the press.
Uprooting the
UMNO Lim acknowledged that the people
demanded transparency and accountability in the
issuance of government contracts and said the new
state government would insist on an open tender
system - which would be a notable break from the
long-ruling United Malays Nasional Organization's
(UMNO's) preferred tack of issuing state contracts
opaquely.
One of the first things the new
opposition-led local government will likely look
into is the role of state-linked agencies and
firms, such as the Penang Development Corporation
and InvestPenang, government entities charged with
promoting investment and hi-tech development of
the state's crucial industrial sector which have
been charged with slow-footedness, among other
things.
As Jeff Ooi, a blogger who won a
seat in Penang, noted: "We would certainly look
into the affairs of PDC and InvestPenang, and the
tourism machinery, for a start. Transforming
Penang's economy will have to start from here."
Now that the DAP has wrested power in
Penang, it will have to learn to deal with a
BN-controlled federal government still headed by
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, which it has
sharply criticized for years. Until now Penangites
had long been wary of voting in opposition state
governments, for fear of losing access to federal
development grants as political punishment.
But there are three big reasons why that
could be more difficulty in the future. First, it
is Abdullah's home state; second, the electronics
industry and its exports are a major contributor
to the national economy; and third, Penang is a
vital component of Abdullah's recently launched
Northern Corridor Economic Region.
The new
opposition-led Penang state government will need
to hit on creative new ways and means of getting
things done, according to Andrew Aeria, a
political analyst for Enterprise LSE and IDEA
Global. He contends that Penang faces huge
competitive challenges - many arising from
lower-cost producers in China - among them how to
get PDC to enhance Penang's attractiveness to
foreign investment and improving the state's
workforce.
"They must encourage industry
to move up the technology ladder and they have to
do this in concert with the federal government,"
he told Asia Times Online. "They also have to
learn how to work with the federal government to
find ways and means to provide incentives and
punitive measures to ensure that all companies
move up the technology ladder instead of relying
only on migrant labor."
One area the state
government will likely review is the functioning
of Penang's local municipal councils, which until
now were largely helmed by BN political appointees
who will likely now be replaced. Before the
election, the DAP had pledged to work towards the
restoration of local council elections, which were
suspended in the 1960s.
''They can improve
local councils and clean them up," said Aeria.
"They can file reports against those who are
corrupt. They can check the awarding of contracts.
And in the interim period, they can put more
competent people of integrity in charge of
councils."
Activists in Penang, renowned
for its vibrant civil society groups, are also
preparing suggestions and demands to be submitted
to the new state government. In particular, they
will want the state to emulate the new Selangor
government's pledge to make the state free of the
Official Secrets Act and ensure that the people
have the right to information on matters of state
management. Transparent information, public access
to documents, such as tenders for public projects,
and free access to open council meetings are among
their initial demands.
As quality of life
issues also take on increasing importance in this
industrialized state, there will likely be more
calls on the new government to look into the
effectiveness of environmental legislation and
land development approvals. The DAP has already
announced that the new state government it
controls will review plans for a controversial
US$8 billion real estate development plan, slated
for an environmentally sensitive green area in the
island's center.
The driving force behind
the project has been businessman Patrick Lim, who
is known to be closely associated with the prime
minister's son and now may find himself out of
local favor with Saturday's election result. If
the DAP-led state government makes good on its
campaign trail promises and reviews other similar
deals, there will be much for UMNO-linked vested
interests to worry about in the months ahead.
Anil
Netto is a Penang-based writer.
(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online Ltd.
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