Penang Gerakan youth legal bureau chief Jason Loo has asked the state government to declassify tender documents involving the sale of Taman Manggis to a private company.

The 1.1 acre Taman Manggis is situated on Jalan Zainal Abidin. It was sold to KLIDC in 2010 via an open tender committee chaired by the state secretariat.

As the plot was too tiny for low cost and affordable housing, the state earmarked a 11 acre piece of land on SP Chelliah to build about 2,000 low, medium cost, and affordable homes, which are now 20 percent completed.

Loo said he had purchased the documents to check the state's approval for the land to be developed into a medical facility and hotel.

"If they have nothing to hide, please declassify the related tender documents, so that the public can judge the bungalow issue from a rational perspective," Loo said in a press conference today.

The bungalow issue refers to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng purchasing a unit on Jalan Pinhorn below market price for RM2.8 million in 2014.

Loo preferred not to comment about Lim's political integrity until he has reviewed the tender documents.

He said that the businesswoman Phang Li Koon who sold the unit to Lim in July 2015 may have had reasons for selling the house cheap to Lim.

Phang had signed a statutory declaration on March 22 to say she sold the unit to Lim on a willing buyer-willing seller basis, and that she did not benefit from the sale.

The most important factor to Loo was whether an "exchange of unethical favours which compromised the rakyat's benefits" had taken place in the bungalow transaction between Lim and Phang.

"It's better we remain rational, and check whether the sale of the bungalow was related to the contract awarded by the state, to someone who is directly or indirectly linked to the sale of the Taman Manggis land," Loo said.

Obstaces in obtaining documents

However, Loo noted that there were obstacles in obtaining the documents.

He recalled that when he tried to purchase other documents from the state government under its Freedom of Information initiative, he was told to sign a statutory declaration asking him to promise not to use the material for political purposes or share it with third parties.

"I will stand firm in my decision not to sign the SD, because I have to do my job," he said.

Furthermore, Loo needs to fork out RM100 for each document in the current year and RM50 for those in previous years.

Loo noted that he has to pay RM150 for the tender documents, which he lamented was a "huge financial commitment".

He also has to wait for 14 days before he can get hold of the documents. And he might not get all of them.

"There are clauses saying that not all documents requested can be obtained as the state has the final say on whether the material can be declassified or not," Loo said.