Penang Island City Council member Chris Lee has slammed Gerakan for being a "hypocrite" when they donned the "Save Penang" T-shirts.

Lee said the opposition party should instead launch a "Save Gerakan" campaign and save whatever that is left of their reputation.

"It is better for them to do that instead of telling the Pakatan Harapan government to save Penang," Lee told reporters in Gurney Drive.

"The Pakatan government has totally changed Penang despite only receiving 0.0074 percent of the national budget," he added.

"That is a major success story," Lee said.

Lee was referring to the "Save Penang" campaign by Gerakan which criticised the reclamation works along Gurney Drive.

Yesterday, Gerakan state vice-chairperson Oh Tong Keong sent a sarcastic "I Love Penang, (earn huge money)" T- shirt and a memorandum with 10 complaints about Penang to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as a Valentine's Day gift.

But Lee shifted blame on the previous Gerakan-led state government for "destroying the beauty" of Penang, especially Gurney Drive.

"Gerakan should instead be convincing Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to apologise for even suggesting to federalise Penang.

"But we know that he (Tengku Adnan) will never apologise as Umno leaders have no respect for Gerakan," Lee said.

"Penangites must be aware that any support for BN is a support for Penang becoming a federal territory because if an Umno leader wants it to happen, other BN parties cannot stop it," he stressed.

Gerakan told to quit lies about Gurney Drive

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has expressed strong opposition to Tengku Adnan's proposal and the Umno secretary- general was invited for a televised public debate on the matter but he has yet to accept the offer.

Lee urged Gerakan to quit their lies and own up for what they have done to Penang for 39 years while they ruled the state with Umno.

Lee said he had lived in Gurney Drive all his life and witnessed how the tourist strip deteriorated under Gerakan’s rule.

He recalled there were many access links to the beach when he was younger.

He used to walk on the beach with his father and catch snails with his friends but over the years the stretch became "dirtier and dirtier".

Lee said the decision to fill Gurney Drive with rocks was made during BN's rule prior to 2008 and "the beach just disappeared".

"Worst of all, due to the decisions by the BN state government, Gurney Drive came to be filled with mud flats and was a sad sight to behold for many years," he said.

"By the time Pakatan government took over in 2008, the beach was so dirty that much community efforts had to be done to clean up the beach there," he added.

The state government also planned to restore the beach by building a Gurney Wharf on the spot.

He said the current administration is trying to restore the ugliness in Gurney Drive that was allegedly left by the BN government.

"Neglected" Komtar now rehabilitated

Lee cited another case, Komtar, where the Gerakan administration "build but neglected" the building later.

Instead of finding ways to rehabilitate the building, Gerakan allowed federal agencies to move to another location on Jalan Anson, Lee noted.

"The Penang government was also on the verge of moving out before losing power in 2008," Lee recalled.

Lee said since taking over Penang, the Pakatan government had launched a campaign to restore and rehabilitate the damage done by the previous administration.

"One look at Komtar today and you can see the difference, people are returning to the building that Gerakan had wanted to abandon," Lee said.