Lim Guan Eng’s Rep Refutes Every ‘Problem’ Highlighted In Viral Video About Penang
He tackled her points one by one.
By Jia Vern Tham — 26 Feb 2018, 05:12 PM
Recently, a video featuring a woman lamenting over how Penang has become worse under the DAP-led state government surfaced on social media and sparked a huge uproar
The video features a woman in her late 20s, living and working as a senior executive in Penang.
The unidentified woman questions if 10 years were not enough for the DAP-led state government to make life better for Penangites.
In the video, the woman ran through a few issues which she thought were affecting Penang
The woman pointed out that there was a lack of affordable homes for locals, and said that one cannot afford a house in Penang without RM800,000.
She also talked about an increase in unemployment within the state, after big factories exited the state. Furthermore, she complained about overpriced highways, overflow of garbage, and Penang's flood incidences in 2017.
The woman also reminisced about "the good old times" before the video ended with a quote urging viewers to "make the right choice".
The video has attracted negative comments from netizens, claiming that it is a propaganda video
On Malaysiandigest's YouTube channel, netizens claim that the video was propaganda, and the producer of the video should feel bad about himself.
Furthermore, the woman has been criticised on Facebook that she was bribed to act in the video.
"May I ask how much money does it take to speak lies in this advertisement?" asked one commenter.
Another commenter also said that the woman must have received a huge sum of money for the video.
Despite the negative comments, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's information officer Zaidi Ahmad took a different approach to respond to the video
According to Malaysiakini, Zaidi tackled the issues raised by the woman in the video rather than dismissing the video as a BN propaganda flop, as many netizens did.
Regarding the woman's claim that she can't make ends meet even as a senior executive, Zaidi questioned where her salary goes to since he made a guess that she earns about RM5,000 a month.
Furthermore, Zaidi countered the woman's claim that food in Penang has become more expensive, by inviting her to have char koay teow with him.
"Food so expensive in Penang? Same price as KL? Come on, lah! Let's go for char koay teow. They are the best and cheapest in Penang," Zaidi said.
He also commented that prawns in Penang's char koay teow are "big and fresh", unlike the "tiny and frozen" ones in Kuala Lumpur.
The former Royal Malaysian Air Force pilot also argued against the claim that incomes of Penangites have not grown
"Our expenses are now the same as those living in KL, but our income has not grown," the woman said in the video.
In response to this, Malaysiakini reported that Zaidi said this is "BN's usual tactics to slander and make up stories" without references or statistics to back their claims.
Zaidi quoted the National Statistics Department and said the RM1,800 median income of Penangites is much higher than the national median of RM1,703. On top of that, average monthly income in Penang is RM5,409, which is still higher than the national average of RM5,228.
He also said that Penang's unemployment rate is merely at 1.6%, which is much lower than the national average of 3.5%.
On the alleged high cost of housing in Penang, Zaidi said the woman in the video must have "expensive taste" to claim that one cannot get a house in the state without at least RM800,000
"If she is looking at a house by the sea with a private pool, then the figure is logical," Zaidi said.
"If you are so desperate you can apply one of the PPR (People Housing Scheme) units, where the rent is only RM124 per month, and I can assure you that there are many more units available on the mainland," he added.
Furthermore, Zaidi rebutted the woman's claim that there has been a hike in water prices, saying that Penang has the lowest water rate in the country.
