KUALA LUMPUR (June 2): Finance minister Lim Guan Eng cannot be blamed, if he missed the Penang Chief Minister’s chair – two weeks into his new hot seat in Putrajaya.

Shocked by the huge debt, hidden files and lopsided deals left behind by the previous administration, his priority is to contain costs while ensuring that economic growth stays on course.

“You’ve got to be stingy,” Lim tells The Edge, speaking candidly about the state of the nation’s coffers, and the mammoth task of paring Malaysia’s over RM1 trillion debt burden.

 “We think this is what the capital markets and the people of Malaysia deserve - a government that tells them the truth. We always say you must speak truth to power but power must also speak truth to the people. So it may be very uncomfortable for some people, but I think that at the end of the day, as it has always been said, the truth will set you free. I don’t think we need to spend our time trying to mislead, lie, deceive or cover up,” Lim was quoted as saying in its latest June 4 – 10, 2018 issue of The Edge Malaysia business and investment weekly.

For more on what Lim’s game-plan and what he says about working with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad – whom once put both Lim and his father Lim Kit Siang behind bars – pick up and read the latest issue of The Edge.

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