By Shannon Teoh
GEORGETOWN, June 13 — After hosting Lee Kuan Yew for two hours, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng says his party differs from Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) despite their shared history.
The minister mentor of Singapore made his first official visit to a DAP-led government today when he called on Lim in Penang this afternoon.
But with the conspiracy theories that DAP is PAP’s agent in Malaysia resurfacing in the run-up to and during Lee’s week-long visit to Malaysia, the chief minister of Penang distanced the party from its historical links with Singapore’s ruling party.
While acknowledging the fact that DAP was formed in 1965 out of Malaysian members of the PAP, Lim insisted that “we have different views and since the separation we have taken divergent paths and that has made us different.”
He said that while DAP valued the views of the minister mentor — who led PAP for three decades and is still an icon of Singapore’s success — their opinions differed.
He added that the meeting was government-to-government and the commonalities sought was in terms of “good governance, which is taken as a given in Singapore.”
Lim said that in Lee’s 50-minute meeting with him, followed by a 25-minute discussion with the rest of the Penang executive council, the minister mentor had tried to get a feel of the island’s new administration due to the change in Malaysia’s political scenario.
“He mentioned that Tun Daim Zainuddin had predicted that it would be difficult for Barisan Nasional to regain Penang for the next 10 years,” Lim said, referring to the Malaysian economist and political observer who was once finance minister.
“I believe he was trying to assess firsthand the leaders in our administration,” he added.
Lim also found an opportunity to lambast his BN predecessors by stating that Lee had commented that Penang’s infrastructure had not progressed in the same way as Ipoh and Seremban.
“It is a reflection of the graceful decline in Penang over the past 18 years. Between his last visit in 1989 to now, Lee has not seen much improvement,” he said, referring to the Gerakan government of the past.
“We need to take corrective measures so we appeal to the federal government to take steps towards remedial measures,” he added.
Lim also touched on trade relations and the fact that Singapore would like to see better communications and transport facilities in Penang.
The chief minister believes that plans to get a total of 84 flights per week between the two islands next year will go some way towards addressing this issue.
According to Lim, Lee also expressed views that Penang would be its first choice in relocating production that it had outgrown as it continues to move up the value chain. - TMI
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