in policy Tuesday, including open bidding for government contracts, after his opposition party won elections for the first time in four decades. Lim Guan Eng, sworn in for a five-year term as chief minister of the northern state Tuesday, also said his government will review a a 25 billion ringgit project to develop the city center of Penang island, which has raised concern among residents.
Lim's opposition Democratic Action Party won control of Penang in Saturday's election, unseating the National Front coalition that had been in power since 1969, in one of the biggest electoral upsets in Malaysia's history.
The reforms are part of the new government's "agenda for change to re-establish rule by the people," Lim said in a statement released soon after he took control of the state, the site of many multinational electronics companies such as Intel and Dell. Besides being the country's industrial heartland, the island of Penang is also known as its tourism jewel.
It is the first time the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party has come to power in any state in Malaysia, where 12 of its 13 states have always been under the National Front, a coalition dominated by the Malay-based party representing the country's majority ethnic Malay Muslims.
Besides Penang, the National Front also lost in four other states to a three-party opposition coalition of which the DAP is a member. At the federal level, the National Front's traditional two-thirds majority in Parliament was reduced to a simple majority as the opposition alliance boosted its strength from 19 seats to 82 in the 222-member house.
Lim said in a statement that his government will do away with the New Economic Policy, an affirmative action program for Malays, in awarding state contracts.
"We will run the government administration free from the New Economic Policy that breeds cronyism, corruption and systemic inefficiency," Lim said in the statement, which effectively pledges to turn upside down most of National Front policies.
"We will implement an open tender system for all government procurement and contracts," he said, referring to the practice of state contracts being awarded only to ethnic Malay-based companies in secret tenders.
"We will also practice transparency by uploading information of such tender bids in an Internet portal to be set up in future for public access," he said.
In other reforms, Lim said all state government members and civil servants will be required to publicly declare their assets.
"This is a government that is based on democracy. This is also a government that believes in equal opportunity and social economic justice. We are here to build a dynamic Penang for all," he said.
He said he will also seek to restore elections to appoint local government councils, which until now were appointed by the government.
Lim pledged to remain investor friendly and take steps to woo foreign investment that creates high paying jobs.
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