GEORGETOWN, Malaysia — Lim Guan Eng, the effusive chief minister of Penang state in Malaysia, is not the type to miss a good photo opportunity, so there were plenty of witnesses when he handed over the keys to his government-provided Mercedes before a May 5 general election.
Integrity is a central battle cry for Malaysia’s disparate three-party opposition as it pursues what appears to be its best chance yet of ending 56 years of rule by the Barisan Nasional, or B.N., coalition.
“The official cars should not be misused for our own personal use,” Mr. Lim, a 52-year-old ethnic Chinese, told reporters as his administration shifted to caretaker status this month. “This is the integrity held by the state administration.”
Five years after the opposition took control of four state governments, the changes in the northwestern state of Penang are being touted as proof that it can make Malaysia’s economy cleaner and more competitive.
Penang, which traditionally draws tourists to its beaches and the colonial elegance of its capital, Georgetown, topped the state investment league in Malaysia for the first time in 2010, and did it again in 2011, bolstering its position as a growing hub for high-technology manufacturers like Intel and Honeywell.
Overall investment in the state doubled from 2008 to 2012, compared with the previous four years, a powerful rejoinder to the B.N.’s claims that the opposition cannot be trusted to run the economy.
In response, the B.N., led by Prime Minister Najib Razak, says a 73 percent slump in Penang’s investment last year and mounting traffic congestion in the state are evidence that Mr. Lim’s touch is wearing thin.
But the opposition hopes Mr. Lim’s efforts to tackle corruption linked to laws favoring majority ethnic Malays will resonate with a younger generation of voters who are angry at graft and less attached to race-based politics.
Polls suggest a narrow victory for the B.N., which lost the two-thirds parliamentary majority that had allowed it to change the constitution for the first time in 2008.
The opposition’s “Penang model” also highlights risks to investors from an opposition victory, which promises to unravel five decades of cosy relations between the government and big business in what would be Malaysia’s biggest political shake-up since it gained independence from Britain.
Led by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition says it will review suspicious contracts and cancel some, including an $800 million rare-earths plant built by Lynas of Australia. Its manifesto also pledges to break up “monopolies” in certain sectors.
“We wouldn’t want to take any action that would destabilize the market, but at the same time it doesn’t mean they can get off scot-free, no,” Mr. Lim, who will campaign nationwide, said in an interview. “The imperative should be there are no crony-driven contracts.”
When Mr. Lim, who had been imprisoned for 18 months under draconian security laws in the 1980s, took office in Penang, he began a social and economic experiment that outraged traditionalists. For example, he made sure that state public works contracts were being awarded through open, computerized tenders, rather than direct negotiations.
Some portrayed it as a dangerous move to tear down the county’s system of affirmative action, introduced after race riots in 1969 between Malays and economically dominant Chinese. Mr. Lim says he was focusing on distortions in the policy that had enriched an elite few.
“It was pure pork-barreling,” Mr. Lim said of the old system.
The affirmative action program is credited with nurturing a Malay middle class, but so-called “bumiputras,” Malays and indigenous people, still make up the majority of low-income Malaysians. Economists say the policy has deterred investment and driven a brain drain, especially of ethnic Chinese, entrenching Malaysia’s “middle-income” trap.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/business/global/penang-state-cited-by-opposition-politicians-as-model-for-future.html?partner=rss&emc=rss