Vote-buying - Guan Eng claims BN in bed with builder

PENANG Caretaker Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has alleged that his opponents have joined forces with a developer to ensure he fails to retain the Air Putih state seat in this general election.

Speaking to a 100,000-strong crowd at the Esplanade last night, Lim said BN has finally shown its true colours by teaming up with "unethical" developers to buy votes.

"They are offering everyone RM3,000 to vote against me," he claimed without naming the culprit.

"This is a form of gangsterism. By doing this,  BN shows it totally disrespects democracy and the election process."

Lim lamented that it was unfortunate that the Election Commission (EC) has refused to act despite calls made by Pakatan Rakyat to probe the matter.

He added that incidents of vote-buying in his constituency was so blatant that his wife Betty Chew, several DAP leaders and their supporters decided to shave their heads bald (below) yesterday in a show of protest against the practice.

"Win or lose we are not afraid as we have gone through worst things in life, but we do not want Penangites to lose and compromise their future," Lim said, while a sentimental song could be heard playing in the background.

"What is RM20 million?  Even if the developer doubles it to RM40 million, we are not afraid," he vowed, prompting cheers from the crowd.

Lim was referring to a report in the Chinese media that a well-known property developer once known as the ‘diamond king', had dished out RM100 cash angpou at a 1Malaysia dinner two days ago.

The developer had later vowed to set up a RM20 million charity fund after the situation turned chaotic when diners reportedly rushed to get the money.

Lim is facing a virtually unknown MCA candidate Tan Yoke Cheng in Air Putih, a state seat under the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency.

The seat has 13,848 votes with a huge majority (82%) of Chinese voters followed by a small percentage of Malays (9%) and Indians (8%).

Lim, however, should have a comfortable win as the Chinese electorate appears solidly behind Pakatan judging from the favourable response he musters during his daily walk-abouts and from huge turnout at rallies.

But the DAP secetary-general is not taking any chances as losing the seat will cost him the Penang chief minister's post should Pakatan keep its hold on Penang on Sunday, the country's 13th polls.