Lim still wants debate on bungalow issue

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GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng still wants the debate with Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan to be held.

He said the debate would allow him to answer all issues relating to the sale of the Taman Manggis land and the purchase of his bungalow in Jalan Pinhorn here.

“Why run away from the debate…through it we can tell everything,” he told reporters yesterday.

Lim said this when asked about a letter dated Nov 13, 2015 allegedly sent to Penang Development Corporation (PDC) by a company and signed by the director, Phang Li Koon, who is also former owner of the bungalow, to propose for a project in Juru and Batu Kawan.

Prior to this, Phang through a statutory declaration had stressed that she did not have any business dealings with the state government.

Phang said she sold the bungalow on her own free will in an agreement between buyer and seller at a price of RM2.8 million on June 23, 2014.

Lim described the disclosure of the connection between Phang and the state government as lies.

“This is all to say that she (Phang) got the land, these are all lies…she did not get the land. But if I say it like this, he (Abdul Rahman) will try to find an excuse not to debate. Why be afraid to debate? Why try to find excuses now?” he said.

The debate between Lim and Abdul Rahman Dahlan was supposed to have been telecast live over TV3 on April 19, but was postponed after the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission advised that it be postponed as it could jeopardise the investigations into the case.

Earlier, Lim visited Tech Dome Penang (TDP) at the Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak (Komtar) here.

He said the TDP, which is being developed at a cost of RM28 million, would inculcate the love for science and technology among the younger generation.

Located on the fifth floor of the Geodesic Dome and Annex in the complex, the TDP will house more than 120 interactive science and technology exhibition booths that would offer fun-filling experience for people of all ages.

The exhibition booths would be divided into galleries with themes of ability and movement, life technology, optics and electromagnetism.

It is expected to be operational in July this year. — Bernama