The stone which the builders threw out - it's now the cornerstone!

 

Ketuanan rakyat (The People is the Master) - are we ready for it? Will we be good masters over ourselves and others?

I just came back from the swearing in of the new MPSP councillors. Loved what Guan Eng said in his speech:

 

The new state government and all its agency should be driven by C.A.T - Competency, Accountability and Transparency.

 

Some good points he raised in the speech for MPSP:

 

1. Disciplined adminstration with the best production results

2. Reduction of beuracracies to remove roadblocks for better service to the community and improve business process

3. Heeding the voices from various parties, especially the public.

4. Creating a cleaner, safter and more condusive municipality for business and better quality life.

5. Followups - dialogues and consultations are meaninglessness without thorough followup plans and actions.

 

Coming from a highly profit driven and competitive corporate world, I think these are good stuff and I share our CM's hope that in the end of this financial year, we'll see a more balanced report on the account of MPSP.

 

Folks, buat kerja, jangan tak buat!! (While I am writing this, a good friend, Oon called me to ask if I am free to go down to a site in Alma because he has received a complaint there but was busy attending to problems in another location. That's my Councillor man, angkat sumpah 11 a.m. this morning, already active at work at 2 p.m. - btw these folks were chosen based on their track record of community services, so there are actually veterans in servicing)

 

Photos of the darn beautiful MPSP Kenanga hall later...(sigh...to me the new Bandar Perda building is thoroughly unnecssary. but well, dah build by previous admin, must utilize kau kau - Chow Kon Yeow, what will happen to the Jalan Betik MPSP building now??)

 

Datuk Ismail Sabri has announced an RM130 million allocation (published in The Star yesterday 17-Apr, p. S68 - yes, MSM-reader guilty as charged, but it was supplied to my Office and I thought I should read what they say as well in the "star-diwara paper") to build multi purpose halls in every district in Msia to promote sports amongst youths.

 

While I applaud the Minister's move away from the previous syiok-sendiri-overspent-underperformed-RM200-for-four-screwdrivers policies of Azalina 67-million-bucks-England-training-centre Othman; to minimize the expenditures by building the halls instead of full blown sports complexes, I do think that this amount of money can better be spent maintaining or upgrading existing facilities. Datuk Ismail said that each hall will cost RM100k, but what can we get from 100k? We certainly do not want to have sub-standard facilities which will be run-downed in a few months. If we've got roof leaking after spending millions, then RM100k, apa itu?

 

Rather, I hope the Minister will consider channelling the funds (RM130 juta, bukan main kecil amount tu) to upgrade existing facilities such as our Penang International Sport Arena, or the Batu Kawan Stadium, or the public padangs. And of course, we can allocate budgets for new buildings in places where there are no avenue for sporting activities. But the key point is, focus on expandibility and sustainability.

 

Finally, a plus point for the Minister for saying that the contracts for any of the constructions will be awarded to local contractors (of respective district) through open tendering system. A fresh air of change, hopefully, with this new guy given our Ministry's 2007 infamous audit report. And with that, better quality job done.