DAP Penang: If you repeat them enough times …
LSSReport
Last night, for the umpteenth time, the DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister boasted yet again that Penang has the lowest debt and claimed credit for it.
MalaysiaKini reported this:
Penang’s RM1.5 billion in reserves outweigh its federal debt of just RM69 million, boasted chief minister Lim Guan Eng.
But while the state can easily pay off what it owes Putrajaya, Lim said some debt is necessary.
“I can call my financial officer right now and tell him, ‘Datuk, go to the ATM machine and pay the federal government’.
“But we have to keep some debt so that we can ask for money from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak,” he said in jest at a fundraising dinner in Kuala Lumpur last night.
He said that if Penang had no debt, the federal government would assume it was well off and did not need more money.
Penang’s federal debt is the lowest in Malaysia.
Propaganda is all about repeating a half-lies enough times until people start believing it is true.
And DAP is very good at this. They have repeatedly claimed credit for this half truth probably hundreds of times since the year 2011.
Unfortunately, it is a half-truth at best.
Misleading Propaganda 1: DAP Penang is great as it reduced State Debt by 95% due to good governance.
This propaganda has been repeated hundreds of times by DAP. It is a half-lie actually.
Let’s look at page 38 of the Auditor-General’s Audit Report 2012 on the Penang state finances.
Yes. The Penang state debt was increasing every year until the year 2011 when it mysteriously dropped 95% within a year.
This was because the Penang Government struck a deal with Najib’s Federal Government where the Penang Govt gave state assets to the Federal Government and leased it back.
Essentially, the Penang Govt just changed an existing RM655 million loan into a 45 years annual lease where the Penang Govt must pay RM14.56 million to the Federal Govt every year for 45 years.
RM14.56 million X 45 years = RM655.2 million.
Which means, the Penang Govt is essentially PAYING THE SAME AMOUNT!
To the easily-cheated supporters of DAP and gullible Penang people, they would not know the difference – allowing DAP to keep repeating this shameless propaganda over and over again since the year 2011 to cheat the people.
I am not sure how thick-faced you need to be to keep repeating this in public.
If you don’t believe me, listen to this fellow who thanked the Federal Govt in the year 2011 for doing this deal.
• the state’s outstanding loan of RM655.24 million to the Federal government will be interest-free and rationalized by alienating state land related water assets to PAAB for a period 45 years. PAAB will lease back the water assets to PBAPP for 45 years. PBAPP shall pay PAAB a yearly lease rental of RM 14.56 million and upon settlement of the lease at the end of 45 years, the state land will automatically revert back to the state;
• the funding of Mengkuang Dam expansion project of RM 1.2 billion will be given as a grant by the Federal Government;
When Lim Guan Eng made the above press statement he has pretty much confirmed that it was the Federal Govt taking over Penang State assets and convert the loan to a lease (which is the same thing as you end up paying the same amount) which has allowed DAP to keep claiming they have reduced 95% of the Penang State Debt due to “good governance”.
Not only that, but that same press statement of his also betrayed another long-standing propaganda that the Federal Government does not help the Penang State Govt. Not only has the Federal Govt waived the 3% interest on the previous soft loan but it had also given RM1.2 billion free grant to the Penang Govt for a much-needed dam expansion.
What kind of persons who got helped by someone and then use this help to mislead others and repeatedly over 6 years to whack back the same persons who helped you?
