PKR invites Umno for talks on NEP

PKR invites Umno for talks on

Posted by kasee
Monday, 17 March 2008, MT

By NG SU-ANN

PENANG: PKR has invited Penang Umno to thrash out their concerns over the New Economic Policy (NEP) in a dialogue session, Penang PKR chief Datuk Zahrain Mohamed Hashim said.

He said this was a better option than holding street protests, which only confused the public.

He was speaking to reporters after joining Pantai Jerejak assemblyman Sim Tze Tzin and Batu Maung assemblyman Abdul Malik Kassim in a walkabout to thank voters at the Bayan Baru market yesterday.

Zahrain admitted that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng could have been hasty to announce that the state would be run free of the NEP.

However, he said, Lim had good intentions in wanting to run a clean and transparent government.

“If the protesters had read our manifesto which includes a National Economic Agenda, they will see that everyone's interest will be safeguarded equally,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sabah Progressive Party president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said he was puzzled why the NEP was still an issue when it had been replaced by the National Development Policy.

He questioned why politicians on both sides of the political divide in Penang were still harping on the policy when it had already expired in the 1990s.

He said the DAP-led Penang government's “so called cancellation of the NEP” was completely redundant because it no longer existed and it was equally disappointing that Penang Umno was still harping on a non-existent policy.

“We are now busy with new concepts like development corridors, Agenda Baru and Islam Hadhari.

“It is no wonder that some politicians both from ruling and opposition have lost focus on which policy to talk about,” he said. - STAR