Beh Lih Yi
Malaysiakini

Penang Barisan Nasional has gone on the defensive after its election slogan ‘Keep Reinventing’ backfired following exploitation by the opposition.

Most of the banners were removed today and replaced with new ones (in Chinese) advising the electorate not to be fooled by its rival DAP as their leaders will ‘disappear’ after being elected.

The BN’s move came after the DAP cheekily erected banners carrying the words ‘Vote DAP’ on each of the white-and-blue ‘Keep Reinventing’ BN banners around the island.

There was also an issue over the slogan’s Mandarin pronunciation, ‘zai zhuan bian’, as it sounds like ‘pian’, or cheating. The entire phrase seems to mean ‘to cheat again’.

BN banners, however, remained at several places where the DAP did not put up the latter’s banner side by side with the ‘Keep Reinventing’ banners.

It is understand that the Penang BN has earlier intended to launch the second election slogan which would loosely mean ‘new opportunity emerges’ if the people vote for ‘Keep Reinventing’.

But it appears this plan has now been called off, fearing the oppositions will exploit the slogan at BN’s expense once again.

Jump into the sea, CM told

In another development, DAP’s Jelutong candidate Jeff Ooi has asked the outgoing Penang chief minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon to ‘jump into the sea’ over the latter’s remark on the state’s economic performance.

Citing a media report, Ooi told a press conference today that Koh had said in the run-up to the 1999 general election that he would ensure the state’s economy perform better than Singapore.

“Are we rivaling with Singapore now, yes or no? If yes, show us the figure. If no, you (Koh) jump into the Penang straits,” Ooi, also a popular blogger, said in Penang today.

He was responding to Koh’s statement yesterday, who has described Ooi’s criticism that the Penang’s economy competitiveness has gone down as “irresponsible and ignorant”.

Koh however did not reveal any latest statistics to rebut Ooi’s claim.

In the press conference today, Ooi reiterated that the world’s largest semiconductor company Intel has planned to reduce its workforce on the island while official statistics showed Penang’s foreign direct investment has dropped from its top position in 1999 to fifth at present.

Issues related to the economy has topped voters’ concern in Penang, which is touted as the hottest state in the March 8 general election where parties will contest for 13 parliamentary seats and 40 state seats.