Two rival elected state representatives were involved in a public spat today over the conversion of a seafront property by the Penang government for a commercial entity.

satees denied mic allegation 240709 ng weik aik Komtar assemblyperson and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's political secretary Ng Wei Aik ( right ) said Umno is running scared of Lim's decision to declassify the official minutes.

Lim was accused of misleading the state assembly in August on the conversion of 3.5 acres of seafront land in Lebuh Farquhar in George Town from leasehold to freehold.

"This is probably the first time that an irresponsible and undemocratic party like Umno does not welcome declassification of minutes to shed light on the issue.

"The Pakatan government's initiative to declassify minutes was made without any pressure and it clearly shows that it is transparent and had nothing to hide.

"Why (is) Umno so frightened? Are they afraid that the minutes will expose Umno and BN's tactics of using the media to repeat a lie 1,000 times until it becomes the truth?

"People now can know who has the courage to tell the truth and who is running scared of it," said Ng today.

In immediate response, Umno assemblyperson from Pulau Betong Muhamad Farid Saad slammed Ng for shooting off his mouth and arguing a case without facts.

"We did not accuse Lim of being a thief or anyone else in Pakatan of stealing. We are not afraid of the declassification of minutes either.

"We just wanted Lim to clarify and explain on whether he had misled the assembly with his written answer to my question over the land conversion issue," said Muhamad Farid.

"Ng is actually shooting blindly. He should substantiate his accusations with facts. He should not be making statements for the sake of it and hurl senseless accusations."

He said Lim can easily end the public row over the issue by admitting he had erred in his answer and apologise for it. It's as simple as that," added Muhamad Farid.

Lim said yesterday that he would propose to the exco during this Friday's meeting to declassify the state land committee minutes on the decision to allow the land conversion from leasehold to freehold status.

‘Declassification minutes as irrelevant'

Muhamad Farid had sought a clarification on approval of applications for change of land status from leasehold to freehold between April 2008 and June 2009 in August.

He dismissed the declassification of the minutes as irrelevant to him.

dap 2010 budget rocket cafe 071009 lim guan eng 01 However, Lim ( left ) said the declassification will show to the public, the reasons behind the decision to convert the land to its owner the Penang Heritage Hotel Sdn Bhd (PHH).

PHH is jointly owned by Penang Development Corporation (PDC) (49%) and YTL Hotels & Properties Sdn Bhd (51%).

Opposition BN leaders, including state legislative assembly opposition leader Azhar Ibrahim, criticised Lim for not being honest and transparent about the PHH land deal.

They accused Lim of misleading the assembly in August when he said the state government had not approved any conversion of land from leasehold to freehold.

He said, in a written reply, that the state government would bring up the matter with the National Land Council at the year's end.

Penang Umno Youth treasurer Aziaan Ariffin challenged Lim to either quit as chief minister or admit that he had misled the assembly on the land conversion issue.

The controversy arose following recent news reports that PHH would build a luxury condominium and seafood restaurant on Lot 408, Section 19, next to the E&O Hotel.

Ng said Umno attacks on Lim was to undermine the credibility of Pakatan government, which was recently praised by Transparency International for its anti-graft efforts.

Muhamad Farid said neither Lim nor Ng had categorically denied in the statements that the assembly sitting had been misled.