14 May 2008
Yang Amat Berhormat Saudara Lim Guan Eng
Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang
Pejabat Ketua Menteri
Tingkat 28, KOMTAR,
Pulau Pinang
Yang Amat Berhormat Ketua Menteri,
Penang Forum, 13 April 2008 and Declaration of the Penang Forum
On 13 April 2008 over 160 people from 40 different NGOs attended the day-long Penang Forum at Disted College, Jalan Macalister. We attach a copy of the said programme.
For your information, this group of Penang NGOs have been working together for several years. In 2007, we jointly organized the Pesta Rakyat Merdeka which was an opportunity to recall the contributions of the ordinary rakyat, and to celebrate Merdeka minus the hype and ceremony of the official celebrations. Our group was also instrumental in organizing a series of talks and forums, disseminating information, and coordinating protest against the PGCC project.
We are most encouraged that your government has adopted the principles of CAT - competency, accountability and transparency – which we believe will facilitate the forging of a new partnership between the Penang State Government with the Penang people.
At the Penang Forum eight major topics were presented followed by lively and substantial discussion from the floor.
We also resolved to establish ten ‘issue-based working groups’ which are preparing ‘action plans’ on the topics discussed. We intend to submit the entire set of these action plans to your government by August 2008. We believe that they can be the basis for policy making that enhances CAT and good governance.
At the end of the Forum, we adopted a Declaration which we would like to present to you today. We hope that the requests contained in the Declaration will receive your kind and immediate attention.
We hope that there will develop continuous consultation between your government and the Penang Forum group of NGOs under your chief ministership.
We thank you for this opportunity to meet with you and to present to you the Declaration.
Yours respectfully,
Francis Loh Kok Wah
on behalf of the Penang Forum, 13 April 2008