Lim Guan Eng is finished and on his way out!
The Third Force
It’s been a scorcher of a month here for Malaysians, and surprisingly, Penangites aren’t complaining. The island state’s populace may have gotten used to soaring temperatures long before the February heat wave struck. The reason? They’ve been basking in media spotlight all along.
For four months since October last year, investigative journalists and bloggers were drenching Lim Guan Eng in the tide of his own cunning. They were insinuating that the Chief Minister (CM) had entered into heavily controversial and lopsided land-swap deals that privately benefited him – and that’s not surprising. The problem is, no one came out to offer rock-solid proof.
Then, on the 12th of November 2015, Muhammad Farid Saad upped the ante by partially unmasking the CM. The Pulau Betong assemblyperson pointed out how parcels of state land were dished out to private developers at what was implied to be an indiscriminate rate. In one instance, an infrastructural plot was said by Farid to have been bartered to partially finance a heavily contentious undersea tunnel project.
But the CM took none of what Farid said lying down. He sat halfway up, wore his glasses, and began to scan back and forth, left and right, frantically in search of something. Seeing that there was no teleprompter, he broke into a rehearsed caution by saying what any politician in his position, caught with his pants down, would say – that he would have to read Farid’s statement before responding.
It is bad enough that land on the island – a large portion of it – no longer belongs to the state government. Now, private developers are selling properties they developed on it to foreigners at out-of-this-world prices, causing property values on the island state to balloon into large bubbles. And that’s the problem – Penang is no longer Penang. It’s a mini Hong Kong.
Imagine this – you’re bequeathed a parcel of land by your father in trust, which you then barter in a quid pro quo arrangement to a private developer for a fee. Once developed, you get your mother to rent an apartment unit from the developer, who in turn becomes her landlord. It’s business-as-usual undoubtedly, but a pity – your mother would be renting a property on a tiny portion of an expanse that otherwise belonged to her deceased husband.
The point is, Penangites are pissed as hell. They had more or less consigned the island state to the DAP led government in trust, but are now left with an island that hardly construes as Penang. Ask most of them, and they’ll tell you how they’re now willing to push the man they once referred to as the Honourable Island Deity (HIDE) to the front of a runaway train.
All that was two weeks ago.
Last week, controversy broke into public view once again when Dato’ Shabudin Yahaya funnelled doubt in the minds of Penangites over a possible bungalow-for-land scam, bringing what Farid had started last November full circle. Reviews on the CM have not been flattering ever since, with many drawing the line by saying “Guan Eng, it’s time you left.”
So while Farid had partially unmasked the CM, Shabudin wanted it all out in the open and ripped the mask off altogether. Beneath that mask lay the ugly truth – that Guan Eng was just as guilty – perhaps even guiltier than Dr. Mohamad Khir Toyo.
Speaking of Khir Toyo, the onetime CM of Selangor had in 2007 procured two plots of land and a bungalow unit for himself and his wife at a substantially discounted price of RM 3.5 million. The company director who sold him the real property, Shamsuddin Haryoni, told a High Court in Shah Alam that he himself had picked the properties up at RM 6.5 million, but sold it at a ridiculous discount for fear that his business interests in Selangor would be affected.
On the 22nd of September 2015, a five member panel of the Federal court upheld an earlier decision by the Court of Appeal that had found Khir Toyo guilty of abusing his position to obtain the real property. And that begs the question – is Guan Eng trending on the heels of the former Selangor CM? From the looks of it, not only he is, he knows better than anyone what lies in store for him – the political gallows.
Bit by bit, an unidentified group of persons has been leaking the black-and-white that unveiled an elaborate but no-so-intelligently contrived plot. It seems that the CM had conspired with two individuals – Tang Yong Chew and his business partner, Phang Li Koon – to secure a bungalow unit that bore a heavily discounted tag of RM 2.8 million.
Value for value, deal for deal – Khir Toyo’s act of malfeasance seems to pale in comparison to that of Guan Eng. While both involved the purchase of real property at ridiculously slashed values, Guan Eng may have taken things a notch further by receiving a ‘down payment’ – a discount in rental – as a ‘gift’ in a quid pro quo arrangement that may have secured his commitment to a bungalow-for-land scam. At least, that seems to be the implication thus far.
The bungalow, a two-storey five-bedroom unit located at Jalan Pinhorn in Penang, is nestled within a cosy enclave, said to be out of reach even to an upper-middle income earner. But not according to Guan Eng, who just yesterday, insisted that his residence was reflective of an upper-middle class abode.
Call it what you will – a gift, a down payment, a deposit – the CM may have entered into a kitchen-door agreement with Ms. Li Koon, the terms of which required him to approve the sale of two acres of land in Taman Manggis to Mr. Yong Chew’s medical concern at a 50 percent discount.
When pressed by reporters how he had come to purchase his bungalow at such a generous price, the CM replied that the offer was made to him in 2012.
“At that time, I was not sure if I will be re-elected and if I could afford the monthly instalments,” he added. But what he failed to add was this – the land at Jalan Manggis was also sold to the hospital in 2012. A coincidence? You tell me.
Just yesterday, while guiding a media entourage through the confines of his residence, he had this to say:
“I would not know the price (current market value). There was a verbal understanding.”
The CM added that he wasn’t privy to the market value by virtue of the fact that he wasn’t a property agent. And that is true. Guan Eng is most definitely not a property agent. Rather, he’s a professional accountant. It seems that accountants who are Chief ministers, who constantly engage in land-swap deals with private developers, have no idea whatsoever how property prices are valued in Penang. Now what are the odds of that?
Let me be clear on one thing – Lim Guan Eng has seen the last of his days as Chief Minister. Tan Sri Abu Kassim is almost certain to lead the MACC into a high-powered probe to investigate the alleged bungalow-for-land scam. It’s a high-stakes game – Abu Kassim needs badly to prove that the MACC isn’t the DAP stooge it really is.
Should the MACC let Guan Eng off easy, both the CM and his father would start praising the anti-graft agency high and low and put it on a pedestal so high, the people would be inclined to believe that Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak is innocent. And that’s a truth both Abu Kassim and his partners in crime prefer that you do not know.
