Free port status, sure?

One of the news items that I've read in recent days is this one in theSundaily and other newspapers, that quoted the newly-minted Penang Barisan Nasional chairman, Teng Chang Yeow, as saying that his party, if it recaptures the state in the next general elections, will push for Penang to get back its free port status.

Bunkum. Nonsense. What a big load of bullshit. Crap. This is plain old-fashioned dangling of a bait. Why talk in terms of "if it recaptures the state" and not now, as in "immediately?" If this is not dangling a bait, the only other way to describe it is daylight bribery.

The point is, if Teng and gang are serious about giving back the free port status to Penang, which the old Alliance, pre-Barisan Nasional, government took away in 1969, they do not have to wait until the general elections are over. Give it back to us now and prove your sincerity that it is not bribery or an election bait.

We do not mind if you hang up a signboard later on to declare that it is another "Barisan Nasional gift to the people of Penang" just like what you did shamelessly with the new Penang Hill railway station. We can live with the boasts. Just do it with no strings attached and I shall respect you for it, okay? Or else you are no better than your bosses in Putrajaya. Hot air....

Or, by the way, I'm sure that if the Pakatan Rakyat captures Putrajaya next, the free port status for Penang will be in the pipeline too, without the state having to ask too much.