A verbal war of words has erupted between Gerakan and the Penang government over the future of Pulau Jerejak as a gazetted forest reserve.

Pulau Jerejak is an island off Bayan Lepas in Penang, which was during colonial times a leper patients holding centre, a detention centre and was also used as a drug rehabilitation centre.

There is no further development on the island which is located near the Penang Free Trade Zone area, except for a hotel resort, which is not very popular among tourists.

State Gerakan Youth legal and public complaints bureau chief Jason Loo (left in photo) said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should not delay gazetting the 295 hectares of land as a forest reserve.

Loo said state executive councillor Phee Boon Poh had in 2009 ordered the state land office to expedite the gazetting procedure, asking it to be done within a year.

"It's 2015 today and after four years, the matter is still pending. Can we still trust the words of the chief minister or his state exco?" he asked at a press conference today.

Loo urged the state government to fix a deadline for gazetting the land as Penangites who love nature and their environment do not want to see any more delays.

Chief Minister Lim had on Jan 25 said that if the state government gazetted Bukit Jambul and Pulau Jerejak as forest reserves, the future for any future development may be complicated.

"As long as everyone upholds the greener mentality, he or she will take care of nature naturally", Lim was quoted as saying when commenting on the issue.

'CM Lim insincere about Penang environment'

Loo noted that this statement by the chief minister reflected the latter’s "insincerity" in protecting the state's environment.

The Penang government has clarified and strongly denied that Lim had mentioned Pulau Jerejak in his comment, and said that Gerakan's assertion was "misconceived".

He also took to task the CM's political secretary, Wong Hon Wai (right), for his recent statement on Pulau Jerejak, saying Wong seemed "ignorant" about the issue.

Wong had said that there was a  need to obtain consensus from federal agency Urban Development Authority (UDA) and state-funded Penang Development Corporation (PDC), which are joint owners of a 32.5-hectare plot of land on Pulau Jerejak, before the 295ha are gazetted as a forest reserve.

"Does Wong intend to confuse the people? I really hope he will stop fooling the people and playing politics," Loo said.

"Please do not drag the two pieces of land into a single entity as this is misleading," he added.

Loo also claimed there was speculationb about the state government planning to reclaim land in Pulau Jerejak.

However, he expressed hope that the speculation was not true as "we must strive to protect our environment".

Wong: No intention to mislead

When contacted, Wong denied that he intended to mislead the people on the matter, saying Pulau Jerejak's development must be seen as a whole entity.

Wong explained that the previous state government under Gerakan had talked about gazetting the plot of land as forest reserve to promote eco-tourism since 2003.

He said since 1992, the BN state government had also intended to hand over a 32.5ha plot of land on the island for development to Tropical Island Resorts (TIR), which is 51 percent owned by UDA and 49 percent by PDC.

This deal went through on Jan 15, 2001, Wong said.

However, TIR incurred losses of RM3.86 million and the accumulated losses of the company stood at RM26.6 million, according to its audited accounts on Dec 31, 2012, he said.

Thus, in 2013, UDA called for a Request of Proposal to develop Pulau Jerejak, Wong said.

UDA has viewed the proposal and the state government, via PDC, is now deciding on the best mechanism to implement the development plan for the island,  he added.

"As of now, the state land committee is reviewing the entire proposed development plan for Pulau Jerejak.

"Discussions with relevant stakeholders are still going on and the parcel of land for forest reserve will be gazetted when the  whole development plan for the island is completed," Wong told Malaysiakini.