The action of the Penang state government in not spending the fund under the Bumiputera Housing Trust Account amounting to RM33.36 million is discrimination against the Malays in the state.

The secretary of the Penang Umno liaison body, Azhar Ibrahim, said such an attitude also clearly showed that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng did not care about the fate of the bumiputeras, especially the poor and homeless.

“The question now is why the money had been kept idle whereas it should have been utilised to build affordable and low-cost homes for bumiputeras in Penang.

“I regret the action of the state government led by the chief minister (Lim) in ignoring the wellbeing of the bumiputeras especially the Malays in the state,” he told reporters after opening a seminar on entrepreneur development organised by the Penang Regional Development Authority (Perda).

He said this when commenting on the media report quoting the secretary of the Penang Malays Assembly Secretariat Mohd Nor Suhaili Jamali as saying that Lim should explain his action for not spending the RM33.36 million from the Bumiputera Housing Trust Account to build low-cost or affordable homes for the people.

Azhar said the state government could build more than 10,000 low-cost and affordable homes from the fund in the account but did not do so.

- Bernama