Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the state government is willing to assume full responsibility if permitted to take over the National Park Advisory Council, which oversees the Penang National Park, where a nudist event took place in May.

 

This council is the statutory authority that controls and manages the park, Lim said.

 

"It is self-contradictory and ridiculous for Penang BN chairman Teng Chang Yeow to blame the state government for trying to wash our hands off the nudist camp issue at Teluk Kampi, inside the Penang National Park, when we have no final decision-making powers relating to the National Park," Lim (right) said in a statement.

 

"I am surprised that Teng is so ignorant of the basics of governance as a former Penang executive member."

He was referring to Teng's remarks yesterday where BN leader said the the state has a "big say" in the running of the national park.

Teng also said that Lim's claim that the state was powerless is "ignorant, arrogant and irresponsible".

War or words

 

In the war of words, Lim said Teng is the ignorant one when he claimed that the state such powers just because the state secretary and three other representatives nominated by the state sit on the National Park Advisory Council under Section 5 of the 1980 National Parks Act. 

 

Lim argued that the chairman of the National Park Advisory Council is the secretary-general of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and a majority of the members of the Council are appointed by the federal government.

Lim said this "perverse logic" of Teng (left) where the minority state government representatives in the National Park Advisory Council can control the majority federal government representatives in the Council is false and unacceptable. 

 

"Following Teng’s perverse logic, is the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) under the control of the federal government just because it can appoint three representatives on the PDC’s Board of Directors that is chaired by me?" Lim asked.

 

"That is why on any matter related to PDC, the state government assumes full responsibility and does not blame the federal government…

 

"No wonder BN is running the Federal government even though they won a minority of the votes with 47 percent of the popular vote in the 2013 general elections!" he quipped.

 

Lim also lamented his opponent’s decision to “politicise” the issue despite the state government’ choice not to do so, following discovery that a former Gerakan Wanita leader was one of the organisers.

 

The 54-year-old woman from Kedah is among 18 who participated in the Penang Nudist Sports Game 2014, a five-minute video clip which sparked an outcry after it was uploaded online.

  

Instead, Lim said, the state government has stressed that both the federal and state government would not have approved the nudist camp. 

 

"We have also urged the public to give the federal authorities time to complete their investigation, even though a Penang National Park Ranger (who is under Federal government payroll) has assisted the participants of the nudist camp," he said.

 

Snidely, Lim also advised Teng that blaming the state government would not help him reverse his two heavy defeats in the 2008 and 2013 general elections. 

 

“The beauty in the wisdom of the people of Penang is that when you point a false accusatory finger, there are four fingers pointing back at you.”