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Monday, 6 July 2009

Federal govt “ready to help”; Koh: Don’t blame me

By Anil Netto,

Now we hear that the federal government is “ready to help” the High Chaparral residents, says Deputy Minister T Murugiah.

“Although the Barisan Nasional (BN) is not in power in the state, the Federal Government still belongs to BN and we should help the people, regardless of their race,” he said. Check out the Bernama report here.

Meanwhile, former Penang chief minister Koh Tsu Koon has washed his hands off the Kampung Buah Pala crisis, saying he would not interfere to avoid getting blamed.

“He (Lim) always blame me for everything that he cannot do, he either blames the federal government or the previous state government. He always push issues which he cannot solve to the federal government,” he added. See full Bernama report here.

That’s a cop out. Tsu Koon cannot be let off so easily and must be held accountable. He must provide a detailed explanation as to how the Brown housing trust (vested Crown) land for the Kampung Buah Pala villagers was turned to TOL land. Who were the beneficiaries of the trust?

He must also explain why and how the land was sold to the Penang State Government Officers Cooperative for RM3.2 million. Who were the key players in the state government, the cooperative and the developer responsible for the deal? He must answer these questions.

Guan Eng for his part has to explain the circumstances surrounding the transfer of the land that was effected three weeks after the Pakatan took over power in Penang. Was he aware of it - or was it done by the Land Office without his knowledge? Had the new administration issued any instructions to the Land Office not to effect any new transfers without the state government’s approval? Or was it put through by the Land Office without the new state government leaders’ knowledge? We need answers.

I hope Deputy CM Mansor’s investigative committee will be looking into all these issues in his report as well.

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