Malacca a hard act to follow

BOOMING: This BN bastion has been transformed from a laid-back state into one of the most bustling cities in the country



FOR 295 years, the A'Famosa Fort was used as a bastion by the Portuguese and also the Dutch during their occupation of Malacca. The Portuguese built it in 1511 before the Dutch overpowered them and took control of the fortress in 1641.
The fortress changed hands in the early 19th century when the Dutch handed it over to the British to prevent it from falling into the hands of the French.
However, in 1806, the fort was almost demolished when the timely intervention of Sir Stamford Raffles, who happened to visit Malacca in 1810, stopped the fort from being torn down.
In current times, Malacca is still considered a Barisan Nasional bastion and it is expected to remain so for the years to come as under the ruling coalition it has been transformed from a laid-back state into one of the most bustling cities in the country.
Boosting the state's performance, Malacca, under the helm of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, has also achieved many accolades.
Malacca's transformation was initiated when Ali took over as chief minister in December 1999.
On Oct, 20, 2010 (20.10.2010), Malacca created history when it achieved what was deemed as impossible by many, when the state was declared a fully developed state, based on the benchmark set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
This not only elevated the state's status but also paved the way for Malacca to become a high-income state and green technology city state by 2020.
Besides this, Malacca can take pride in being the state with the lowest poverty and unemployment rates at 0.5 and 0.7 per cent respectively.
The state has also been the cleanest state, with the best landscaping, for the past eight consecutive years while the Chief Minister's Department has been awarded a five-star rating by the Federal Government, with Sarawak and Pahang in second and third spots.
Electricity and water supply is 100 per cent. At the Malacca International Trade Centre, which includes the state administration centre, power outages stand at zero minute, better than Singapore.
The water supply is also the cleanest, second only to Putrajaya, and surely far ahead of the Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states of Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan.
The state also made the New York Times list of 45 cities to be visited in the world this year, which could be attributed to it being accorded the World Heritage City Status by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in 2008.
Malacca also tops the list of states which had attracted more than half of the 25 million tourists who visited Malaysia last year. From the records, 13 million of them had visited the state, last year.
The state's achievements have not gone unnoticed, even Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was all praise for Malacca.
Under Barisan Nasional, Malacca is also a magnet for foreign and domestic direct investments and this could be seen through the investment value of more than RM31 billion recorded by the state from 1999 to last year.
While the state experienced these successes, the people of Malacca had never been neglected and this could be seen in the RM84 million allocation in welfare aid and over RM60 million in the distribution of the 1Malaysia People's Aid last year.
As for housing projects for the poor, Malacca has built more than 6,600 houses since 2000 and spent RM70 million on this.
With housing seen by the state leadership as an important component of its poverty eradication plan, the state government would this year be developing some 2,800 units of low-cost houses under the People's Housing Project (PPR) throughout the state.
The state is now considered one of the best states in Malaysia, beating all the other states, especially those led by the opposition.
Malacca is also not like the Pakatan Rakyat-held states, where constituencies won by BN are neglected. Although Kota Melaka parliamentary and the state Seats of Ayer Keroh, Kota Laksamana, Kesidang, Bachang and Banda Hilir, are under DAP, the state government continues to bring development to these areas.
According to Ali, the BN government is sincere in serving the people and he is confident that the people would choose a government that works for them.
"When the government shows its commitment to the people, they should give their support."
For the next general election, the state BN believes it can repeat the feat achieved in 2004 and wrest the prized Kota Melaka seat from DAP.
BN could also make a clean sweep in the state in the next general election as the support of the people, regardless of race and religion has returned to BN.
"The 1Malaysia concept serves as a unifying factor for Malaccans to move forward as one, coupled with the fact that economic stability in the state has also made everyone happy.
"Tourism is booming in Malacca and one can go around and ask the people, especially businessmen and hawkers, on how they have benefited from our policies, especially in promoting tourism.
"We work for the people, regardless of whom they had chosen as their representative in the previous general election.
"I think it would be best if the people gave BN a 100 per cent mandate as we have transformed the state to what it is now, that is, one of the best in Malaysia," said Ali.