GEORGE TOWN, Nov 17 — Penang Umno wants Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to stop blaming previous Barisan Nasional administration for all the controversial issues pertaining to state governance.

Penang Umno chief Zainal Abidin Osman said Lim should not go on blaming BN since Pakatan Rakyat had been ruling the state for the past six years.

“Instead he should assume full accountability and responsibility for his own administrative mistakes,” Zainal said, after chairing the party’s state liaison committee yesterday.

“He cannot keep on going playing the blame game and hiding behind the previous administration.”

Zainal said prior to the 2008 general election, the DAP and PKR had heavily criticised the previous administration on 12 major issues and rallied the people to change the state government.

The issues were graft, cronyism, failures to resolve flood problems, building more low-cost and low-medium cost houses, hillside development, environmental degradation, rapidly growing traffic congestion, surge in housing prices, mushrooming of high density development, high parking rates, state land sales, and rental hikes for petty traders in government shop lots like the wet market and food courts.

“From 2005 until 2008, they used these 12 issues claiming they would resolve the previous government’s mistakes. But now that they had taken over, many of these issues still remain unresolved.

“In fact some of the issues, such as flooding and the increase in house prices, have worsened.”

Zainal said Lim must clarify whether the issues had been resolved or not during the six-year Pakatan rule.

Meanwhile at its meeting, Penang Umno decided to fully back the state government’s application to the federal government to upgrade the Penang’s  status from current municipality to city.