Penang assembly opens with tiff over 'scandal'

The Penang legislative assembly sitting today began with a an argument  over the title of a White Paper involving a massive land scam which the state plans to table.

The document, called the ‘White Paper on the Tan Hak Joo Land Scam’, involves a RM40 million deal which allegedly took place  during the rule of the previous BN state government.

Dr Hilmi Yahaya (BN-Teluk Bahang) (right) said the title on the cover of the paper, which uses the word ‘scandal’, was not appropriate as the matter had not yet been proven.

“Let it be proven first before we can call it a scandal,” he added.

Arif Shah (BN-Seberang Jaya) said the title was misleading, but that this was “perhaps... due to the negligence of the officer in charge".

Jahara Hamid (BN-Teluk Ayer Tawar) said the decision as to whether the matter was a scandal was not up to the White Paper committee that wrote the report.

She expressed concern about the ‘way of reporting’, adding that whether the deal was scandalous or not could only be decided after the issue had been debated.

Muhammad Faris Saad (BN-Pulau Betong) even went as far as to say that the the matter would "undermine the credibility of the Dewan".

Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, who will table the paper later, said the state would prove that it was indeed a scandal.

“We will defend the report... the topic is merely a general one,” he told the House.

‘Gov’t yet to receive any money returned by senior citizens’

Another topic which created a small wave centred around the state government's senior citizens appreciation programme was the disbursement of RM100 each to those eligible.

Tan Cheong Heng (PKR-Padang Lallang) asked for the number of senior citizens who did not participate in the programme or returned their money, as alleged by the opposition (Umno).

State exco member for health, welfare, caring society and environment Phee Booh Poh (left) said that anyone who wished to return the money had to complete a form provided by the administration, or it would not be accepted.

Up to April 14, he added, the state government had yet to receive any money or application form from any constituency.

“In fact, more people has registered for the programme - from 107,000 previously to 114,665 currently,” said Phee, who is DAP Sungai Puyu assemblyperson.

However, Tan stood up to ask what had become of the money returned by about 1,000 senior citizens, as claimed by Umno in the last assembly sitting last November.

“Does this mean Umno has lied?” he queried.

Phee replied that if more than 1,000 people had rejected the programme, the amount of money Umno had purportedly collected would be about RM100,000.

“Where is the money? Umno tried to cheat the village folk by saying the money came from illegal means like gambling,” he said.

He raised his voice when Muhammad Farid asked him to explain the number of people who have actually received the money.

“Ask proper questions, don’t waste time... it was Umno  that said that the Malays had rejected the money, they have disturbed the villagers by saying that the money was haram,” Phee said.

“Where is the money, that is the main question asked by the assemblyperson from Padang Lallang?"

Jazmin Mohammed (BN-Sungai Dua) said Umno had never said that the people rejected the money, adding that the party had always supported the policy.

This was a U-turn of an incident during the November sitting, when state Umno deputy youth leader Norman Zahalan (right in picture) tried to hand over a bag of cash to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, claiming it was money returned by the people who considered it haram.

Lim and his officials had refused to accept the money, saying it was not documented properly, and hinted at corruption.