BUKIT MERTAJAM - Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang pimpinan Pakatan Rakyat mengambil langkah yang drastik dalam mesyuarat exco semalam, apabila bertindak menarik balik segala kemudahan yang dinikmati pegawai-pegawai tinggi sebagai salah satu langkah berjimat cermat.Read more (courtesy of Thinking of Life) Pulau Pinang : Tidak boleh guna tiket kelas pertama, hotel mewah - Malaysiakini
& now let's compare that with this;
GEORGE TOWN: What was touted as Big Bang, Penang has instead turned out to be Big Blow, Penang.
The seats are up, the court is ready, but with the Kings of Tennis event, scheduled to be held at Esplanade here scrapped, organisers are looking at massive losses estimated at RM17.5mil (US$5mil).
The grass on the field near the historical Fort Cornwallis was dug up and the surface tarred before the tennis court was laid. Now, the organisers have to return the field to its original condition. Read more Court ‘jesters’ turn Kings of Tennis into a joke
Penang state government BOLEH! Another classic case of penny wise, pound foolish?
Updated 10.26pm
For record purposes, I have read the state government immediate response/defence on the issue itself as reported in The Star Online & linked in my earlier posting. But in order for me to amplify my concerns here, do read Anil Netto's 10 lessons to be learnt from the Big Bang tennis flop
8 comments:
As the organizers are a private company, the loss is not from the state coffers. As such the public funds have not been wasted in this instance, provided the state govt. does not bail them out with taxpayers funds ! But the country & in particular Penang have definitely been embarassed !.
LK
For the record, the tennis thing was organised by the private sector and the RM17.5 million is outlayed by some high-risk prone businessmen. The event was endorsed by the Penang state government. But I don't think they had any state or municipal expenditure on it. Just the embarassment of having endorsed a non-starter project. But, it's not as if they are the only state government, BN or Pakatan, to have endorsed duds right? ;)
Thanks A John & de minimis for the comments. Agree, but just to clarify the notion 'pound foolish' is not limited to monetary only but inclusive of the perception that it shed on the state govt tself :-) It strikes at the heart of the image of competent & able govt that LGE is trying hard to potray all the while. It may not has an immediate impact, but come next election I definitely will be casting that vote with an image of a govt that can get it right even in an event such as this ;-)
You waived RM2mil BG, you don't collect RM200k rent. And how would you collect after the project went bust with RM17million loss?
"Sorry, we have no money"
"The state will have to sue"
Lawyers like LK do not work for free. These snakes charge you even when they think about your case. They'll bill you when they think about working on your case.
At the very least, it will cost the state govt money (read taxpayers' money) to sue former Miss Malaysia and friends. God knows how long it will drag.
Poor Fools By listening to the name "Kings of Tennis" you can know that its going to die. Who's going to see some semi retired tennis players fooling around at this time of the economic situation. God Bless the piece of land at the Esplanade.
baru tahu
Salam, Tuan
Menjadi pemimpin atau pegawai tinggi kerajaan negeri bermaksud berkhidmat bagi rakyat secara amnya. Bukan soal nak buat duit (kalau nak ikut idealism lah ya?). Oleh itu, economy class dan budget hotel tu saya rasa elok juga, terutama sekali dalam keadaan ekonomi yang agak sukar. Setidak-tidaknya orang takkan kata yang kerajaan baru Pulau Pinang macam kerajaan lama juga dari segi perbelanjaan.
Wassalam
Kalau BN punya event mesti depa bising macam nak rak! Cuba check betui-betui ada ka takdak kerajaan p.pinang rugi, mesti ada punya. Silap-silap lepas ni mau dok kena saman sebab bagi hancoq padang kota! Bukannya kecik, ni NALA punya dok ada depa korek!!!
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