The opposition took power in Malaysia's industrial heartland on Tuesday and immediately said it will no longer follow the nation's controversial affirmative action policy in state administration.
"We will run the government administration free from the New Economic Policy that breeds cronyism, corruption and systemic inefficiency," said Lim Guan Eng, whose Democratic Action Party (DAP) won control of the state at the weekend's watershed general election.
Under the policy, majority ethnic Malays, whose politicians dominate the ruling national coalition, receive preference in terms of state contracts, jobs and financial assistance.
Penang is the only one of Malaysia's 13 states so far to openly spurn the "Bumiputra" (sons of the soil) affirmative action policy.
Lim also said he wants to use cash from state oil firm Petronas to fund a new $940 million bridge project, and would seek a meeting on that matter with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
In Kuala Lumpur, de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim also took aim at the Bumiputra policy and said opposition-held states would review state government contracts if they are not awarded in a transparent fashion.
Describing the opposition programme as the Malaysian Economic Agenda (MEA), he said: "The MEA can be implemented at the state level to reduce race-based affirmative action policies, and begin to implement a more competitive, merit-based system.
"This will immediately increase foreign investment, improve the state tax revenue and begin to promote more equity and income parity."
Anwar's People's Justice party won 31 seats in the 222-member National Parliament, the most of any opposition party, and will share power in four of the five state governments that fell under opposition control.
The National Front coalition won the most seats, but lost the two-thirds majority it has enjoyed almost without interruption since independence in 1957, a stunning slap in the face to the prime minister, who had won 90 percent of the seats in 2004.
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