by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Tuesday, February 22, 1994:
Gim Hwa’s failure in his first two-year term as MPPP President highlighted by the Singapore Sunday Times report on February 20 that Penang is “one of the dirtiest cities in the region”
Yesterday, Datuk -Tan Gim Hwa was sworn in as the MPPP President for the second term and he promised to create “a healthier, cleaner and more beautiful environment.” on Penang Island.
Gim Hwa’s failure in his first two-year term as MPPP President is highlighted by the Singapore Sunday Times report on February 20, carrying photographs, with the following caption:
“Penang prides itself as the Pearl of the Orient but many visitors, both local and foreign, would not hesitate to label it one of the dirtiest cities in the region.”
In March 1991, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, condemned Penang as the dirtiest place in the country – ‘the dustbin of the Orient’! This was followed by the public pledge by the Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, to make Penang the cleanest city in the whole country within a year.
Tan Gim Hwa has cleanly forgotten these incidents or the Singapore Sunday Times would not mark the end of his first two-year term as MPPP President by describing Penang Island as “one of the dirtiest cities in the region.”
Tan Gim Hwa should realise that this is not the best tourist advertisement for Penang!.
Is Gim Hwa’s first task as second-term MPPP President to give approval for the RM200 Taman Midlands ‘One-Stop Centre’ project despite opposition from the affected residents?
It has been reported today that the MPPP devslopment planning committee has given approval to the planning applica¬tions for the RM200 million Taman Midlands project submitted by Pangkal Permata (M) Sdn. Bhd and. that the application would now go to the full Council.
Gim Hwa should explain whether his first task as second-term MPPP President is to give approval for the RM200 Taman Midlands ‘One-Stop Centre’ project despite opposition from the affected residents.
The MPPP would have approved the Taman Midlands plan¬ing applications within one month last year if the DAP had not raised this issue in the December meeting of the State Assembly.
Up to new, the Penang Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon and the MPPP, including its President, have not been able to give satisfactory explanations to the many questions about propriety, accountability and transparency of the project – and the privati¬sation deal by the MPPP – which the DAP had raised.
Nothing has been heard of the three-man inquiry com¬mittee which the Penang State Government established, to investi¬gate into the illegal collection of booking fees by , Pangkal Permata (M) Sdn. Bhd. for the sale of shop-lots and condominium units when there was no developer’s licence, sale and advertise¬ment permit or planning approval.
The MPPP has also refused to put on public display the planning applications of the Taman Midlands project so that the residents in the area fully understand how the ‘One-Stop Centre’ would affect them and make intelligent representations to the MPPP.
DAP calls on Tsu Koon to issue a directive to stop the MPPP President, Tan Gim Hwa, from giving full approval for the Taman Midlands planning application until the affected residents have full opportunity and time to study the planning applications and to make representations.