Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said Umno did not want to hear his explanation and yet continue to accuse him of corruption regarding the purchase of his house and the Taman Manggis land issue.

"They are the ones who challenged me. After I accepted, I agreed for us to address all these issues in the debate," he told reporters in Kuching today.

"Last minute they pulled back, they cancelled the debate. I think that shows that they were just putting on a show," he said.

Yesterday, Umno information chief Annuar Musa had accused Lim of making a wrong decision on purchasing the house from a "moral standpoint."

"As a public servant, the world knows he bought the asset at an unreasonable price," Annuar was quoted as saying by Umno Online.

"No way he would have got the bungalow for that price if it wasn't for his position as chief minister. [...] If it was 10 or 20 percent (less) that's okay, but this is almost half (the price)," he said.

Lim, who had been renting the house from 2009, said he had struck a deal with the owner to fix the price at RM2.8 million years before the purchase.

Lim was further accussed by Umno that he secured the house at a low price in exchange for selling state land in Taman Manggis.

Lim denied all the allegations.

BN communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan had challenged Lim to a public debate over the land deal. However, TV3, which is owned by Umno-controlled Media Prima Bhd, cancelled the debate on Saturday.

The television station said it was acting on advice by inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said it would harm its investigations into the chief minister.

Lim, who is the DAP secretary-general, said Annuar was saving Umno's face after the debate's cancellation.

He added that he was still prepared to detail his side of the story in a live television debate.

"His (Annuar) accusations are not worth responding because he's trying to distract attention away from the fact the debate did not go through.

“If the debate had gone through, I will have fully answered the questions. I will have addressed all the issues. He's trying to distract attention from the fact that it was they who abandoned the debate.

"I'm still here addressing the issue. In the end who is the one running away?"