State BN chairman Teng Chang Yeow said the coalition had been “totally sincere” in taking up many recommendations of the Penang Forum Agenda for adoption into the BN manifesto.
“When we say it, we mean it, we deliver, unlike you and Pakatan, which made promises which could not be fulfilled. Have the decency to take a closer look at the 51 unfulfilled promises Pakatan made in the past 10 years, and admit your failure,” he said.
Teng’s statement came in response to Zairil Khil Johari, the Pakatan candidate for Tanjong Bunga, who had doubted the BN’s sincerity in accepting 70% of the Penang Forum Agenda.
Zairil and Teng are both contesting in Tanjong Bunga, which was vacated by two-term assemblyman Teh Yee Chue, who left the DAP after causing controversy by not siding with the state government’s plans for land reclamation. Teh is contesting the Sungai Pinang state seat on a PSM ticket.
Teng criticised the “Know-It-All” style of leadership “where only one person decides and the rest must follow”, a reference to descriptions made of the leadership style of Penang chief minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.
He said BN’s method was to listen to what the people wanted and needed, and had drawn upon the familiarity of organisations like Penang Forum with Penang’s development.
“We have always valued the inputs and contributions of community organisations as they are on the ground to understand the needs of the people,” he said.
In making its pledge to cancel the state government’s multi-billion ringgit undersea tunnel project, he said: “We did not decide this on our own, we have taken into account the feedback of the people, including professional bodies which have repeatedly expressed the negative impact of such a tunnel on Penang.
The BN manifesto was also in line with recommendations by Penang Forum on development projects on hill land and hill slopes, flood prevention, forest conservation, heritage protection to sites outside the World Heritage Zone and maintainance and conservation of historical buildings in Penang, and measures for protecting the environment.
Penang BN was also agreeable with the other portions of Penang Forum’s Agenda, although not listed in the manifesto, he said.
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