The Penang RM25 million heritage fund has trapped one politician in a storm as he stands accused of hijacking the money.

The accusation was hurled at state Gerakan youth chief Oh Tong Keong by DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) which claimed the fund could be better managed by the Pakatan Rakyat government to maintain heritage sites.

However, Oh dismissed the allegation today, stressing that his role was only that of a "messenger" to brief the owners of heritage buildings on the distribution of the allocations.

Beside, the allocations will be managed by the subsidiary company of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Think City Sdn Bhd.

"In this issue, I'm only the messenger and not the one responsible for maintaining the whole Georgetown heritage site. So, the allocation is not given to me," he explained in a statement.

The charges came from Penang Dapsy secretary and Komtar assemblyperson Ng Wei Aik ( below ). pc on guan eng house 200709 ng wei aik

He had criticised Oh, who is also the BN Tanjong parliamentary seat co-ordinator, for hijacking the funds which are better distributed by local people's representatives.

"Since the Georgetown heritage covers the Tanjong parliamentary seat, the local people's representatives have the responsibility to ensure that it is maintained and developed properly," he said.

"But, Oh is only a BN co-ordinator and not elected by the people, so he has no power to hijack the allocation," he had said in a statement recently.

He was also not happy that Oh was invited to the briefing organised by Khazanah Nasional, while the people's representatives from the DAP in Tanjong were ignored.

Komtar is one of the three state seats for Tanjong, where the Georgetown heritage is site located.

The RM25 million fund in dispute is part of RM50 million allocation under Budget 2009, which will be given to Penang and Malacca. Both states are registered in the Unesco World Heritage list.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in a written reply in parliament yesterday, revealed that the actual figure given to Penang is RM20 million. The remaining RM30 million will be given to and managed by the BN-controlled Malacca government.

The opposition parliamentarian then questioned why the fund was not given to the state government, which is currently controlled by the DAP-led Pakatan Rakyat, but handed over to a government linked company whose main focus has nothing to do with heritage.

Ng challenged to lodge police report

Meanwhile, Oh also challenged Ng to file a police report if the latter had proof that he hijacked the fund. If not, he should make a public apology.

If Ng refuses, he reserved the right to initiate legal action, the Gerakan youth leader added.

"As a politician, he should take responsibility for his statement. He should also investigate the whole issue before talking," he said.

He also asked Ng to show proof that he had distributed application forms for the allocations in the Tanjong constituency.

"I want to ask Ng, when and where I distributed the forms? If he can't provide evidence, it means he lied to the people," he charged.

Ng had claimed that Dapsy has proof to show Oh had been distributing the forms to all the registered and unregistered Chinese organisations and temples in Tanjong.

He also said this showed Oh was using the allocations as a means to woo voters.