An opposition assemblyman has questioned the absence of a breakdown of what he claimed were huge allocations for the offices of the chief minister, state secretary and financial officer under the 2013 Penang budget, saying it raised suspicion of a possible hidden agenda in view of the approaching general election.

Arif Shah Omar Shah, the BN assemblyman for Seberang Jaya, told reporters the allocation for the office of chief minister and the office of state secretary amounted to more than RM129 million while that for the office of state financial officer was over RM648 million.

NONE "This is most alarming, especially in view of the approaching general election. More than RM600 million in the state financial office. You are giving access to nobody knows who.

"It invites suspicion that the state government or certain people in government have a hidden agenda to conceal what they want to do in the party interest in the run-up to the general election," he said.

Meanwhile, state acting Opposition Leader Dr Hilmi Yahaya ( left ), who is the assemblyman for Telok Bahang, said the huge allocations for the offices of chief minister and state secretary were not spent.

He said that RM480 million was allocated to the offices of the chief minister and state secretary in 2011 but only 21 percent of the funds were spent, meaning that many development projects were not implemented.

"If the money is not spent, it will appear as a surplus. The state government administration does not hold to its principle of Competency, Accountability and Transparency (CAT) because it is not honest with the people," he said.

- Bernama