Penang Administration Will Be Free From NEP, Says Lim - Bernama

PENANG, March 11 (Bernama) -- Just a few hours after being sworn in as Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng Tuesday announced that the DAP-Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) coalition government will run its administration free from the New Economic Policy (NEP) which he claimed could breed cronyism, corruption and systemic inefficiency.

In his maiden speech as the Chief Minister, Guan Eng said the new state government would implement an open tender system for all government procurements and contracts.

The NEP's stated goals are poverty eradication and economic restructuring so as to eliminate the identification of ethnicity with economic functions.

The policy, which was implemented in 1971, also espouses the redistribution of wealth and affirmative action for Malays and bumiputeras to have at least 30 per cent of the country's wealth.

Following Guan Eng's statement, he was asked on Malay rights and responded that "the fate of all races and their destiny are very much the same."

"I don't want to talk about any particular race because our fate are all the same and our direction is also the same," he said.

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