The Penang state executive council has agreed to declassify official minutes pertaining to a controversial leasehold to freehold land conversion in George Town's heritage zone.

NONE Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the official minutes would include minutes of the state executive council, state land committee and Penang Development Corporation (PDC) meetings pertaining to the conversion of 3.5 acres of seafront land in Lebuh Farquhar.

The seafront land, adjacent to the E & O Hotel on Farquhar Street, is earmarked for a project by PHH Heritage Hotel Sdn Bhd for luxurious condominiums.

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

"The declassification will show to the public the reasons justifying the decision to convert the land from leasehold to freehold," he told a press conference announcing the decision.

However, the minutes, which will be released to tomorrow, will only be partial disclosure. They will focus on the decision taken to approve the conversion and reasons to justify it.

The minutes on comments, discussions and deliberations among the state executive council, land committee and PDC board members during the decision making process however, will not be revealed.

“We will not be declassifying individual opinions from the exco minutes because it is not fair to some of the exco members or the state legal adviser who may not want her views to be revealed," Lim told journalists.

This is in contrast with the Pakatan Rakyat state government decision previously to declassify minutes of the Kampung Buah Pala controversial land deal.

In that declassification, the state government released minutes of the previous Barisan Nasional administration, disclosing publicly held discussions and deliberations among then state exco members, reasons and decisions made to alienate the village land to the civil society cooperative society - Koperasi Pegawai Pegawai Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang Bhd.

‘Kampung Buah Pala a BN decision'

At the same time however, Lim's government did not reveal minutes of his administration on the village land deal.

When asked about this today, Lim told newsmen that his government need not reveal its minutes since it never made any decision on the alienation of Kampung Buah Pala.

He claimed all the decisions pertaining to Kampung Buah Pala were done by the previous BN administration.

"If all the minutes were to be revealed, it will only be a blank paper," said Lim.

Yesterday, Gerakan state youth chief Oh Tong Keong accused Lim of practicing double standards in declassifying the seafront land conversion issue minutes, while refusing to do the same in the Kampung Buah Pala case.

Kampung Buah Pala, once known as Tamil High Chaparral, was demolished and flattened in September to pave way for a lucrative condominium project called 'The Oasis' undertaken jointly by the cooperative society and Nusmetro Venture (P) Sdn Bhd.

In recent weeks, Lim was accused of misleading the state assembly in August on the status of the Lebuh Farquhar seafront land.

NONE Lim has, in a written reply to Umno assemblyperson from Pulau Betong Muhamad Farid Saad (right) , claimed that the state government had not approved any application to convert land status in Penang.

He also said the state government would bring up the matter with the National Land Council, chaired by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, at the year's end.

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.

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

Muhamad Farid has brushed aside the declassification of minutes, saying it is "irrelevant" and he never asked for it anyway.

"I only want to know whether Lim had misled the assembly or not," said the Umno politician.