ELEVEN years ago on April 14, then Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng had called upon the Barisan Nasional federal government to adopt the CAT (competency, accountability and transparency) system as the moral standard of administration that can “protect public interest and prevent wastage by weeding out both the incompetent and corrupt as well as those that have lost the democratic spirit”.

It sounds excellent on paper, but does not mean anything in regard to the massive RM8 billion “master plan” to encourage more private car ownership in Penang on the way to making Penang a “cleaner, greener, safer and healthier” place to live.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, in announcing that the Pan Island Link 1’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) received conditional approval from the Department of Environment (DoE) with 56 conditions imposed did not consider it necessary to disclose what the conditions were, saying much of them were technical.

This is an insult to Penangites as he is saying that there is no one among the public in Penang who would be able to read or understand the 56 technical conditions and so, what is the point of making those conditions public? This smacks of arrogance.

CAT was created by the state government with the express purpose to “protect public interest and prevent wastage by weeding out both the incompetent and corrupt as well as those that have lost the democratic spirit”.

Where is the democratic spirit in keeping the 56 conditions secret from the people of Penang, even if a number of those who want to see them are not voters in Penang?

It is akin to telling Penangites that the government is giving them a new “bride” with 56 conditions attached but they cannot be given any information about those conditions and they can only see the bride and discover those conditions after the marriage ceremony is over.  

When CAT was delivered, it was never stated that things that would be kept beyond the eyes and paws of the state to look at and tear into. The CAT was meant to “protect public interest”, “to prevent wastage”, “to weed out the incompetent, the corrupt and those who have lost the democratic spirit”.

The Penang government has clearly lost the democratic spirit and become autocratic. It seems to have a deadline to keep with the construction companies and so must, in a dictatorial manner, push the project though and leave it to future generations to face any  consequences that could have been prevented by not rushing the project in such unholy haste.  

It can still redeem itself by releasing the 56 conditions to the public and welcoming any negative feedback from experts other than those of the developers’, who have a vested interest in pushing the project through.      

Prevention is better than cure but the state government is oblivious to this and behaves like no people outside the government or the circle of construction companies and developers have any knowledge about such plans and projects. It seems to proudly believe that “might is right”, might being derived from the election results.

Pride goes before a fall! – April 16, 2019.

* Ravinder Singh reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.