DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today questioned whether Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha has abused his ministerial power by exempting his colleague Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai from paying for his bid for the WWW 15 number plate.

penang bank negara forex scandal forum 030612 lim guan eng Lim ( right ), who is also the Penang chief minister, said he was informed by Road Transport Department (RTD) that ministers and chief ministers are no longer enjoying the privilege of free number plates.

Instead, they now have to bid for them, unless they get an exemption from the transport minister.

“So, I want to ask Kong Cho Ha whether you exercised your power reasonably and correctly?

“Isn’t it is an abuse of power to give a free number plate to your own MCA minister?” asked Lim during a press conference in parliament this morning, referring to Liow.

Both Kong and Liow are from MCA, holding the party posts of secretary-general and deputy president respectively.

Liow was recently embroiled in a controversy when he was found to have bid RM24,200 for the WWW 15 number plate.

However, he had later claimed that the number plate will be given free by RTD, without elaborating.

Clearly an ‘afterthought’

Lim said the decision to give it free is clearly an “afterthought” as it only came 10 days after the results of the bidding were announced by the RTD on May 28.

“What RTD did is actually correctly, you must bid for your number, then you can increase your revenue.

“But why do you give number for free now, when they have put in a bid of RM24,200? You shouldn’t have opened the bid then. If that is an afterthought, then clearly it is an abuse of power.”

Lim also hoped that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak provide an explanation on the issue because it involve the integrity of his government.

“If you cannot handle a small issue like RM24,200, how we can then expect you to handle RM24 million and even RM24 billion? This is very frightening.”

He added if there is no response from the government, the DAP will bring it to parliament, which is schedule to start its meeting next week.

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