Former Penang chief minister Koh Tsu Koon said he is willing to take on the state's current chief executive Lim Guan Eng in a televised debate over a number of issues, including the Kampung Buah Pala controversy.

NONE However, the Gerakan president said the DAP secretary-general must fulfill two conditions in order to ensure that it will be a fair debate.

Koh said before the debate, Lim must make public all relevant documents and answer "fully and truthfully" three simple basic questions on the Kampung Buah Pala issue.

The former CM demanded that Lim declassify and make public the full text of all minutes related to discussions and decisions on the Kampung Buah Pala case in exco meetings respectively chaired by him before and chaired by Lim after the March 8 polls.

Deadline is Oct 7

"Doing so means requiring total transparency on this issue for both the previous and present state administrations in a fair manner.

"Lim should welcome total transparency unless he wants to hide some facts. He must also release certified copies of the land titles and other relevant documents," he said in a statement.

Koh, who is now a minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said Lim cannot just publish a "selective, partial and biased" chronological summary of exco minutes from the previous administration.

"The deadline for Lim to make public these minutes and documents and to answer the three questions is Oct 7.

"If he complies with these conditions, then arrangement can be made for a televised debate, with a mutually agreed date and format," he said.

"This is because, before the debate, we need to establish and confirm all the facts and documents as recorded, so that there is no room for him to twist and turn, as has been his habit," he added.

'Itching for a fight'

Koh said he has many important matters to attend to in his present federal portfolio hence he was originally reluctant to be entangled in a running war of words with Lim.

NONE He also felt that Lim "should focus on governing Penang rather than spending his time and energy provoking, attacking and picking quarrels with a lot of people."

However, since Lim has been repeating his "half-truths" to blame Koh and the previous BN administration, the former CM decided to accept the challenge to clear the air and his name.

"Since Lim is itching for a fight, I might as well satisfy him," he said.

The three questions for Lim are:

1) Did Pakatan Rakyat leaders, especially DAP, promise the Kampung Buah Pala residents, before and during general elections 2008, that they can own and stay on the land which will not be allowed to be developed, if DAP and its allies are voted into power?

2) What has been the actual legal status of the land where Kampung Buah Pala was situated? That is, before alienating to the Penang state civil service cooperative, did the land actually belong to the state government or the residents?

3) Why he (Lim) allowed the transfer of the land title to be effected on March 27, 2008, almost three weeks after being voted into power on March 8 and after the residents met him on March 12?