Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should open the doors of his house on Jalan Pinhorn to the press so that they can compare it with the mansion of former Selangor menteri besar Mohd Khir Toyo.

DAP senior leader and Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang proposed the idea during his speech at the party’s 50th anniversary celebration in Penang today.

Kit Siang showed photos of Khir’s resort-like mansion in Selangor and said, “Our secretary-general is under siege for corruption” related to the purchase of his house on Jalan Pinhorn.

“All reports appear to suggest that people have the impression that the house is comparable to Khir Toyo’s,” said Kit Siang.

“So perhaps Guan Eng should open the house to the press so people can compare,” he added.

In an immediate response, Guan Eng expressed embarrassment that his house - an ordinary two-storey bangalow - was compared to Khir Toyo’s mansion in Shah Alam.

Khir is currently serving a one-year jail term for corruption for purchasing a lavish mansion at below market value from a developer.

“I feel shy to compare my house to Khir’s mansion, mine is an old house which was built 30 years ago,” Lim said when delivering his secretary-general’s address.

“As if we want to be corrupt in such a difficul way, if we wanted to be corrupt, we would have joined BN, where we can get donations,” he said to laughter from the 400-odd crowd at Wisma DAP on Jalan Rangoon.

On his dad’s suggestion to open his house to the press, Lim replied, “I have to consult my wife.”

“She told me she wanted a home which has privacy only for the family, so I must ask her,” he said.

“We must respect women,” he quipped.

On Wednesday, the topic of Guan Eng’s RM2.8 million bungalow home, which was raised by Umno’s Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahya, caused a ruckus in Parliament.

Shabudin accused Guan Eng of corruption for buying the unit at below the market price of RM6 million to RM6.5 million.

Shabudin also implied that Guan Eng may have received kickbacks for the purchase as the owner of the property had shares in a private company which acquired a piece of land for affordable housing in Taman Manggis, Jalan ZainalAbidin.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has opened a file to probe Umno’s claim but promised to be fair to Guan Eng.

Guan Eng has denied the claims and challenged Shabudin to a one-to-one meeting in Komtar tomorrow at 11am.

“Which leader is willing to do this, to be shown the claims and answer to the questions posed in front of the press,” Guan Eng quipped.

Several calls to Shabudin went unanswered.

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