Clean and honest administration is now heard in Malaysia again, thanks to Pakatan Rakyat’s conscientious effort to implement accountable and transparent governance. Here’s a sample of what PR has achieved:

Local Councils (MPSP)

• In 2008 Penang’s Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) was nearing financial collapse. It was symptomatic of BN’s mismanagement throughout the country.
• It had suffered eight continuous years of budget deficits (2000-2007), losing a whopping RM 57.1 million in 2005.
• Its cash holdings dropped from RM 372 million (1999) to RM 18 million (2007).
• PR set about to cut wastages and improve revenue collection, achieving a remarkable turnaround for MPSP.
• From 2008 to 2011 it registered continuous budget surpluses. Its cash reserves have climbed to around RM 78 million (2011).

Timber Revenue

• Through having open tender of awarding timber concessions, PR states have achieved previously unheard amount of timber revenue
• Kedah reaped almost five-fold increase in timber royalties, from around RM 9 million (2007) to RM 79 million (2011)
• In 2008, Perak obtained RM 40 million royalty revenue through open tender of timber resources. By comparison BN took in RM16 million in 2007

Fighting Graft

• Penang and Selangor have initiated rewards programs to reward whistle-blowers who expose corruption in the states’ administration
• A syariah court chief judge, Dato Yusof Musa, became the first person to receive RM 10000 integrity reward for exposing RM500,000 misappropriation of bail money at the Penang Syariah Court.
• Penang is the first state in Malaysia to be praised by Transparency International for improving its the regulatory environment in government procurement under its competency, accountable and transparent (CAT) governance

Sand Mining

• In 2008 the state increased monitoring of and reformed the sand mining activities.
• Selangor state corporation KSSB took over sand mining and sales operations directly and issued mining licenses in open tenders and displayed open information of its mines
• Sand mining revenue for the state increased several fold, from RM 1.4 million (2008) to over RM 16 (2011).
• Under BN, Selangor only earned around RM 4 million per year in royalty from 2005 to 2007

Instituting Transparency

• Selangor and Penang have enacted the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
• Through FOI, the public can access documents under the purview of the state, including exco minutes
• Penang and Selangor are the first states in Malaysia to have all its excos declared their personal assets and income to the public
• Selangor formed the SELCAT, a public hearing committee conducted by the legislative arm to inquire into public wrongdoings, another first for the country.