KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 – Lim Guan Eng said today that all communities in Penang now enjoy a share in the success of the state after handing power to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in Election 2008.

“There is... a sense of ownership in Penang, that each and every one of us has a stake and share in Penang’s success.

“Penang Hindus and Indians do not walk alone towards exercising our rights based on freedom, justice, truth, social welfare and democracy,” the Penang chief minister (picture) said in his Thaipusam address.

The Bagan MP added that “for the first time in history, there is an Indian deputy chief minister and Tamil schools have... a fixed annual allocation of funds of RM1.75 million yearly.”

Lim was referring to Batu Kawan MP P. Ramasamy, who is deputy chief minister II. Penang’s deputy chief minister I is Mansor Othman from PKR and Penanti assemblyman.

“Cash contributions and even land are also made available for Tamil school and Indian temple construction,” he said, adding that the state’s Hindu Endowment Board, the only such board in the country, now receives RM1 million annually, nearly 10 times more than before.

The DAP secretary general said this was the result of Indians and other Penangites standing “up for their rights in the 2008 general election.”

He said Penang voted “in a people-centric government that listens to the people instead of lying to them, that do the people’s work instead of their private and cronies’ work.”

The DAP-led state government has repeatedly been accused of being pro-Chinese and anti-Malay by critics especially Umno and its media.

But DAP has hit back in recent weeks, saying that the current administration has addressed the needs of the Malay community, citing the move to increase the state allocation for Islamic affairs from RM12 million from previous years to RM64 million this year.