What The Toot!

Well, we know that 57.5% of state assemblyperson in Penang publish their email address online, and we also know that only 30.4% of that bothered to reply. We have also seen those emails from assemblymen who apparently forgot to reply my email. Now I have to give credit where credit is due and praise some assemblymen for their reply, with some quality. Not just some oh-I-don’t-know-why-don’t-you-check-the-state-treasury-office.

Honorary Mr. Ng Wei Aik (DAP) from N28 Komtar wrote this to me on May 25. He was the first to notify me of the status of the tender (ongoing) and thus the first who gave satisfactory reply. However, his tone in the email could have been better.:

The tender process is still on going. Anyone can bid the tender provided the company offer the lowest price. All these will be decided by a tender committee, which the government will not interfere its decision making. If you are interested, then you can bid for the tender.

Non of us can give you the answer on the status of tender because we are not involved in the tender committee. However, we will ensure the whole process is complying with the CAT - Competency, Accountability and Transparency principles.

Ng Wei Aik

Political Secretary to Penang Chief Minister

State Assemblyman for Komtar

Credits to him for publishing his mobile phone number in his reply, as well as 3 blogs and 1 alternate email to contact him. He also didn’t call himself a Y.B. (Honorary). Good Job!

Honorary Mr. Wong Hon Wai (DAP) from N33 Air Itam replied on May 26. His reply was swift - the first saying he will check it out, and the second letting me know of the status of the tender:

Dear (My Name),
1. As of now, No company has been awarded for the tender.

2. You are invited to observe the Dewan Negeri proceeding which will be held sometime in July.

Regards,
Wong Hon Wai

Again, professional-looking, formal and simple. Just what an email ought to be, especially from an assemblyman. Oh hey, no Y.B. too.

Honorary Mr. Chow Kon Yeow (DAP) from N26 Padang Kota replied on June 2. His reply came late, as I received it after the arbitrary two-week limit I set for them to reply the email. I figure two weeks is enough to find out about the status of the tender, and write a reply to me. Nevertheless, he took the liberty and the effort to write to me. He’s what he wrote:

Dear Sir,
The State Financial Office is still trying to source for the notebooks and printers with the required specs at the most reasonable price. TQ.

Simple, acceptable, but I don’t like using TQ as “Thank You.” That is just my perspective though. No calling oneself Y.B. too.

It just came to me that those who gave satisfactory reply didn’t address themselves as Y.B. That’s a good thing.

No toot material in this post, but I just have to do it to give credits to the 3 assemblymen. Next up, last reply from an assemblyman. Good stuff.

I am having my exam right now, so I can only make a short post. Previously I have said that Penang has 40 state assemblyperson, 17 of which did not provide correct email addresses. That leaves 23 assemblyperson that I assume got their email. Out of this 23, how many have actually responded to me? I shall let the graph speak:

As you can see, only a few replied. Specifically, only 7 replied. The quality and content of their reply is, however, another story. Surprisingly, even one from BN responded to me.

Here’s a list of all the Penang State assemblyperson that have replied me (arranged by date of reply):

1. N14 Machang Bubuk - Honorary Mr. Tan Hock Leong (PKR) - May 18
2. N10 Seberang Jaya - Honorary Datuk Arif Shah Bin Haji Omar Shah (BN) - May 20
3. N24 Kebun Bunga - Honorary Mr. Ong Khan Lee (PKR) - May 24
4. N28 Komtar - Honorary Mr. Ng Wei Aik (DAP) - May 25
5. N33 Air Itam - Honorary Mr. Wong Hon Wai (DAP) - May 26
6. N29 Datok Keramat - Honorary Mr. Jagdeep Singh Deo (DAP) - May 28
7. N26 Padang Kota - Honorary Mr. Chow Kon Yeow (DAP) - June 2

I have to mention that Mr. Chow Kon Yeow replied after the arbitrary one-week limit I set for the assemblyperson to reply. The first two person replied only to the first email that I mentioned, and I never heard from them since. The next 5 assemblyperson all replied to the second email, which served as a friendly reminder that they haven’t replied my first mail.

It is appalling that only 30.4% of assemblymen who presumably got my mail bothered to give some form of reply. That’s only 17.5% of all the assemblymen we have in Penang. If they can’t reply to a simple email, how can they claim to represent us?

I also have to say that the issue has now become a non-issue, as Honorary Mr. Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Penang has decided to suspend the buying of laptop for the assemblymen temporarily.

Next up, we shall see the content of the emails. =)

Recently, there’s a news report in one of the Chinese daily in Malaysia, Guang Ming Daily saying the following (if you read mandarin):

Translation of first paragraph:
Lim Guan Eng said that he is a Chief Minister from “Rocket” (Democratic Action Party) and as such, he will demand speed and efficiency when he does anything. If his City Councillors, EXCO, State Assemblymen and Parliamentary Representatives are slow in doing things, he will shoot (scold) them.

Sure. Let’s refer to another news report by another Chinese daily, Kwong Wah Newspaper.

Translation of Title and Date:
DAP Penang Official Website - Relaunch by Mid-Month
2008-04-02 11.35 P.M.

Basically the news says that the website have been facing unknown problems, and Teh Yee Cheu, the webmaster for the website hopes that it will be functional again by the middle of the month. The report was written in April.

May 15 has come and passed. Here’s how the website look like:

DAPPenang.org as of Monday May 12, 2008 8.53 A.M.

Unfortunately the webmaster, also the State Assemblyman for Tanjung Bungah, has embarked on a journey to Xiamen to (hopefully) raise RM500,000 for charity.

Speed and Efficiency my new Chief Minister of Penang? I beg to differ. The fact that your party can’t even maintain an official local party website online, and can’t relaunch it in more than one month speaks a lot about your party.

Penang DAP is TOOT, and by extension so is Penang Government. It disappoints me a whole lot.