Did Gerakan forget that its president Koh Tsu Koon had allegedly supported a sea-tunnel project in Penang to link the island to the mainland in the northern part of the state in 1999?

Yes, he did, said state Tourism Development Committee chairperson Danny Law Heng Kiang at a press conference in Komtar today.

NONE Waving old newspaper clippings of local Chinese daily Guang Ming to prove his claims, Law reminded the party that Koh, who was then Penang chief minister, had backed a similar sea-tunnel link between the island and the mainland.

Law said Koh and BN had even used the issue - a 7.6km link proposed by Works Minister S Samy Vellu - as a campaign material in the November 1999 general election.

"It's all reported here. Koh had then supported the 7km link, which is part-bridge, part-underwater tunnel, linking the northern part of the island to the mainland in Bagan Ajam," said Law.

"Koh had even pointed out that the link, which is estimated to cost about RM2 billion, would benefit Penangites and help boost the tourism sector," added the Batu Lanchang assemblyperson, who has been an active veteran member of the DAP.

On Sept 16, 1999, the daily reported that two months ahead of the 1999 polls, Koh expressed support for the project, but viewed it as an important element of a whole comprehensive traffic dispersal system.

The project, he claimed, had yet to be approved by the federal government then, but studies on the structure, cost and impact of it on the environment had already been carried out.

NONE On Jan 30, 2000, Koh had reportedly said that the government would be building the second link and that the state was studying two proposals, adding that those who lived on the mainland needed the project.

On March 1, 2000, the newspaper reported Samy Vellu's ( left ) announcement that the second bridge, the Penang Outer Ring Road and Butterworth Ring Road, was scheduled for completion in five years.

Estimated at RM2 billion, the 3.6km bridge and 4km undersea tunnel was to be financed on Japanese loans but at the time, the federal government had yet to decide the company to manage the project, the report stated.

The second link - minus the tunnel - is currently being built now at the south-west part of Penang and is scheduled for completion by mid-year.

Gerakan says Lim is a ‘liar'

Law was responding to Gerakan's outburst at a public dialogue on the RM6.3 billion four-part integrated road system for Penang with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at the Town Hall on Sunday.

During the three-hour session, the party's state Youth deputy chief H'ng Khoon Leng had refuted claims by Lim that Gerakan supported a tunnel proposal, shouting "No! Don't lie. Don't be a liar!"

The project covers a 6.5km undersea tunnel from Gurney Drive to Bagam Ajam in Butterowrth, 4.2km Pesiaran Gurney-Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway bypass, a 4.6km Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway-Bandar Baru Air Itam bypass, and a four-lane 12km road linking Tanjung Bungah with Teluk Bahang.

NONE Meanwhile, Law ( right ) said the previous sea-tunnel proposal came about when then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed had asked Koh, who won a landslide victory in the 1999 polls, what he wanted for Penang.

The bridge - at that time it was known as "the second bridge" - had been a ‘gift' from Mahathir to Penangites.

Law also chided state Gerakan chairperson Dr Teng Hock Nan, urging him not to be "forgetful" of what the party had supported in the past.

Teng, a former state exco in-charge of traffic management and local council, had been taken to task for his remarks in the local dailies for criticising Lim in "misleading the public".

"The previous government had opposed the tunnel project before 2004 just after it was proposed by a Japanese company," Teng had reportedly said in the Chinese press.