The state government is embarking on an offensive to tell the true story of Pulau Jerejak, an island resort off the coast of Penang.

The campaign is aimed at pressuring Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Koh Tsu Koon to explain an alleged financial scandal of RM30 million involving the island, incurred during his tenure as chief minister.

NONE Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng today announced that the state will distribute 300,000 copies of a bilingual pamphlet to demand answers from Koh about the losses.

“This is to comply with the wishes of Penangites who want to see the money returned to the people,” he told reporters at a press conference in Komtar this morning.

“Koh, under the BN’s rule, had handed over the land to the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and now we neither have the land nor the money,” he added.

With a headline that screams “Penangites lost RM30 million...Koh Tsu Koon must answer for the Pulau Jerejak scandal”, the two-page flyer in Malay and English explains in point form how the alleged scandal occurred.

It stated that while Koh, who is Penang BN chief, had obtained the title, the premium of RM10.6 million for the 80 acres of land has yet to be paid to the state.

It added that the state-owned Penang Development Corporation (PDC), which jointly owns Tropical Island Management (TIR), manager of the island resort, has also incurred a loss of RM15.435 million.

PDC had earlier provided a loan of RM3.6 million to TIR, which has reportedly not been settled, the flyer alleged.

Between 1992- 2007, Koh handed over the island to UDA, where TIR was set up with the latter owning 51 percent and PDC 49 percent of it.

‘Time to reclaim the island’

Lim, who is DAP national secretary-general, questioned if Koh had ever raised the fate of the island to the cabinet, and urged the latter to explain why he had not bothered to do so.

“As a cabinet minister in charge of KPI, he should be responsible and direct UDA to return the money and Pulau Jerejak to Penangites,” he said.

“It is time for us to reclaim the island,” he added.

Lim said RM30 million was a big amount for Penangites, although for those who are used to handling billions would think otherwise.

On Wednesday, UDA Holdings Berhad chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed had met Lim and suggested several ways to recover the losses.

nur jazlan mohamed 071008 03 Nur Jazlan ( left ), who is Pulai MP, claimed in the media yesterday that the island had not suffered losses but merely a depreciation.

“What is the difference between losses and depreciation?” asked Lim.

However, Lim said it was not fair to pin the blame of the island’s losses on Nur Jazlan, as he was not responsible for it then.

He added that while the government-linked developer was concerned over the island’s losses, Penangites would still prefer that the state recovered the money.

“We want back the money or the island... now we have nothing. The island belongs to the state but in name only... as we do not own the land at all,” he added.

Lim and Koh had been trading barbs over who should be held accountable for the island’s losses.

Koh had insisted that Lim take full responsibility for the deterioration of the Pulau Jerejak facilities, while Lim retorted that it was Koh himself who had allowed the project to be taken over by UDA.

The furore prompted Public Accounts Committee chairperson Azmi Khalid to mull the  possibility of a special audit by the auditor-general on the matter.