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Why do I keep sensing that the DAP govt is just a fan of blaming others first, and just attracted to another "blame others" article?

It's you, Yang Berhormat, as the Penang Government Chief of Staff and your colleagues of course who are entrusted (and paid) to revive Penang (and stop complaining too much!). If you'd complain/rant less, you'd get to do more beneficial work for the people (yes, the sick Penangites as you call us, coz you're not sufficiently a real Penangite)

Start thinking, and come up with useful plans, instead of one media stunt after another. I've yet to see any significant improvement in Penang from YAB Lim Guan Eng's government after nearly a year in office.

JEFF OOI says: So, did you read what Dr Goh Ban Lee's said? Which part in particular that warrants attention and immediate action? Gradual change of bad habits or use bulldozer enforcement to change bad habits?

Penang is not the only place that is sick. Almost the whole of Peninsular Malaysia is the same. The Klang valley is especially bad.

When I did my east coast drive about 4 years ago, I was impressed by towns like Raub, Bentong and Kuantan. These towns were surprisingly clean and orderly. I attribute this to the fact that the public administrators are local residents.

Years ago, we used to be proud of Ipoh. That was during the time of Dato Seenivasagam. Can't say the same now.

For the last 25 years, the emphasis has been on the physical construction (I don't like the word development). Everyone is chasing after material wealth and maximizing profits. So, what else do we expect.

We have to depend on ourselves to change things. For starters, why don't we have a website with photos of all the illegal parking fully annotated including the car number plates. Better still, if the user click on the car number plate, all photos of that car will be displayed. Not sure if this will run foul of the law and if the car owners can sue the website owner.

Shouldn't be too much of a technical challenge to set this up.

Worry about investment? Tourism industry? IMHO, fix the traffic first, this will increase the business capacity.

The bad habit is not difficult to tackle, all because the previous Penang government lack the ability to instill awareness and gain trust from the people.

Yes, IMHO, those insane traffic obstruct are a sign of civil disobedient on the local government.

If PDRM fail to upgrade their forces, perhaps state government should enable some "tourim police" to relief their job. In the street of bangkok, up to the northen Chiengmai, the police are able to smoothen traffics on those favourite tourism attraction area. And availability of the local transport also play an important factor.

Better traffics means increase business capacity. Don't wait for federal governmetn, it will take zion year.

Zakk,
Those method will NEVER work. It is not going to scare anybody.

A man from a place that used to littering, dare not to litter if you put them in a clean city, where nobody litters. It is a culture to fight for. Singapore use heavy fine (as Jeffooi mentioned bulldozer enforcement), while place like first world countries, they use campaign,awareness program on school, sense of social responsibilities program etc.

And just look at Malaysia education, did you see any text say , "Be a responsibilities citizen, becasue our action decide the future"? No, you just see," don't do this and that, and don't ask the reason, just follow. If your parent did that,too bad, education department has no answer for that. Roles models? hahahahah".

moo_t,

This is great. You just declare what I suggested will NEVER work. No analysis, no explanations, zilch. You just have better alternatives.

Are you representative of the unthinking Malaysians we have today?

I am a Penangite. I do agree that Penang is a dirty congested city. I don't love my hometown very much. Penangites are not civic-conscious. We indiscriminately litter out of our cars. Old men, old ladies and young men and women alike do it. I liked that a friend told me, it's ok to throw tissue into the drain, since it's biodegradable. This I agree. Non biodegradable things though are an unending eyesore.

We need enforcement. Penangites will never change if it doesn't profit us financially. Penangites are money-minded, and yes, I am judging.

I agree that Penang is not a nice place to live in, it is only a good place to get a technical job.

What would make Penangites identify with our homestate? How about cheaper homes? How about making our houses cheaper to own, so that we don't have to fight tooth and nail everyday to earn that extra money to pay for our obscenely expensive houses? All I can afford is a medium-cost apartment. Why can't I get a better home in my own state? Look at some of the apartments - Lip Sin Garden, Batu Maung flats - can you imagine living there? How could I love Penang if I came back to a dilapidated flat every night? How could I enjoy my life if this flat is all I can afford?

Next is religion. Penang is small but there are hundreds of temples, mosques, kuils and churches. Are the people going to these places of worship (other than the mandatory ones)? We need to instill a sense of religion into the school curriculum. Each religion should be accorded a Prayer Day like St. Joseph's cathedral's umbrella schools (in Kuching) where the students go to their place of worship or study their religion. We must understand why we pray. It builds strength in difficult times.