Penang govt rapped for not owning up to errors

KUALA LUMPUR: MCA yesterday launched a broadside against the DAP-led Penang government for refusing to take responsibility for errors it committed over the last nine years.

Its deputy president, Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, said DAP refused to admit its shortcomings because it believed it could never make mistakes.

“When the Tanjung Bungah landslide occurred last month, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng played down the incident by calling it a ‘worksite accident’,” Wee said when officiating at MCA Youth’s 53rd annual general meeting at Wisma MCA here yesterday.

Several parties had urged Lim to resign over the landslide, which claimed the lives of 11 people.

Wee slammed the Penang government for claiming that landslides were only “real” if traffic was impacted.

He said despite recording flash floods since 2013, the state government downplayed them by saying no one had died or blamed them on continuous rain.

Wee, who is also minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said even Albert Einstein was able to own up to his mistakes.

He said when Einstein went to Princeton University, the United States, in 1935 and was asked what he would require for his study, the physicist replied: “A desk, some pads and a pencil, and a large wastebasket to hold all of my mistakes.”

“This statement has deep meaning… even a famous scientist could admit that he could make mistakes, but DAP believes it can make none.”

Wee said DAP and Pakatan Harapan were inconsistent as they were unable to sustain their populist policies.

“The opposition previously labelled BR1M (1Malaysia People’s Aid) as dedak (animal feed), but today, they admit that it is the right thing to do.”

He said Pakatan Harapan planned to reintroduce petrol subsidies but had backtracked by saying it would grant only a small subsidy for automobiles with a capacity of less than 1,000cc.

In Pakatan Harapan’s alternative budget, revealed last month, the coalition said it planned to maintain Barisan Nasional’s initiative of giving out BR1M but on the condition that it “increases the productivity and self-worth of BR1M recipients”.

Wee said unlike DAP, MCA was able to deliver on its promises to the people by working with the government to approve the construction of 10 Chinese schools.

“If Malaysians fail to see the opposition for who they are and follow them blindly, I fear that the country will suffer in the future.”