Embattled DAP MP Jeff Ooi has launched ‘Ops LMC’ in a solitary effort to call all seekers of (L)ow and (M)edium (C)ost homes to register with his service centre in Jelutong.

Ooi embarked on the project following his recent spat with state Town and Country Planning, Housing and Arts Committee chairperson Wong Hon Wai over the housing issue.

Ooi, who is a central committee member of the party, distributed flyers on his latest project at a talk on the death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock in Penang last night.

azlan In the one-page flyer, in English and Chinese, Ooi tells his voters “Your MP needs your help to take care of your housing needs”.

He has fixed Aug 6 from 2pm-5pm and Aug 7 from 10am-5pm, for those interested to register their housing needs with him at the YMCA in Macalister Road.

When asked to comment, Ooi said he wanted to ‘poke’ the state government to uphold transparency and public disclosure of low- and medium-cost housing allocation to needful applicants.

“This is also to get rid of black market and corrupt practices (which may arise in the future),” he told Malaysiakini .

Ooi said the operation was to obtain “micro-economics and live data on the supply and demand” of housing units at the constituency level which the state was unable to provide.

“Look at the basket of problems I have defined... it goes against our spirit to minimise social dislodgement due to local development,” he said.

“There is also disparity between affordability, house prices and black market activities where houses costing RM72,500 are sold at RM135,000,” he claimed.

Ooi said he was collating information available on affordable housing under the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) or the state government’s housing unit.

He added that he would then match the number of applicants he received during the Ops LMC with the available housing units.

He further said he was planning to set a deadline for ‘zero squatters’ in Jelutong, which is currently undergoing massive development plans.

“The housing executive committee (led by Wong) cannot give me such information,” he added.

Ooi to face disciplinary panel

Ooi will face the party’s disciplinary committee in Kuala Lumpur this Friday after calling for Wong’s resignation publicly in the media.

The chief of staff for Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Wong, DAP’s state treasurer, had been at loggerheads  over low-cost housing applications in Penang.

wong hon wai ala wang han wei Ooi had criticised Wong ( left ), who is Air Itam assemblyperson, over a name list for low-cost houses in Batu Lanchang.

Wong, on the other hand, claimed that Ooi did not do his homework when submitting a name list of 178 people who applied to buy low-cost houses in his constituency.

Ooi then retaliated, saying it was a “baseless claim” and called on Wong, whom he labelled as a “little Napoleon”, to resign from his post.

At the height of the arguments, Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, issued a gag order to party members from making statements over the spat between the two.

Meanwhile, Ooi said following the Ops LMC project, the data collected from housing applicants would be presented to the state housing board under the chief minister, to the housing exco under Wong and the MPPP one-stop centre, which approves and oversees development projects in Penang.

“The information will also be posted on Jelutong DAP’s Facebook page,” he added.