Thank you Anthony Loke Siew Fook for telling Penangites that they have been taken for granted.

Penangites have been loyal to DAP for four terms, ever since Barisan Nasional (BN) fell in 2008.

After your rebuke of Penang EXCO for infrastructure and transport Zairil Khir Johari over the LRT (light rail transit) project and that the state government has no say over it, you as the DAP secretary-general has shown that with DAP holding federal power, Penangites seem to have no rights.

How did you show it? By rebuking Zairil, you are indirectly telling Penangites that the state government that they have elected is utterly powerless against the almighty masters in Putrajaya.

Prior to 2008, DAP was fighting for decentralisation but after 2022, the party is more than happy to maintain status quo created by decades of Barisan Nasional (BN) abuse of power.

The decentralisation of state powers and local government elections do not seem to matter to DAP anymore.

Emulating Sarawak

Sarawak has done the right thing and indirectly inspiring Sabah and Johor now. The spirit of federalism needs to be revived.

All states are loyal to the federation and will fight to maintain the unity of Malaysia but individual state rights need to be respected in order for the word “federation” to mean something.

Malaysia is a federation coming together as a union but every citizen should take pride of their individual state cultures and traditions.

That Sarawak BN broke away to form GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) was the smartest thing they could have done.

In one fell swoop, they have made peninsula parties completely irrelevant by encouraging Sarawakians to vote for Sarawakian parties so they could protect Sarawak’s interests.

Peninsula parties will just try to bring Sarawak closer to the centre and slowly eroding away Sarawakians’ ability to stand up for themselves.

Pretty soon, long time peninsula parties will do the same to Penang. Penang is the only Malaysian state that has an ethnic Chinese Malaysian as her chief executive.

This is so much so that every ethnic Chinese Malaysian is rushing to Penang to lead the state even though they were not born there nor did they grow up there.

Penangites’ reliant on existing peninsula-wide parties will continue to see non-Penangites lead the state for personal ambition and not for Penang’s sake. Soon, there will be no different between Penang and every other peninsula state.

Are these thoughts scary enough? - June 14, 2024

Proud Penangite
Penang

The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.

https://focusmalaysia.my/open-letter-to-transport-minister-dap-sec-gen-anthony-loke-from-a-proud-penangite/