There has been no let-up in the public battle of attrition between the current and former chief minister of Penang.

Lim Guan Eng has now accused predecessor Koh Tsu Koon of trying to cover up ‘wrongdoings’ during his 18-year tenure as head of the Barisan Nasional state government.

Koh had declined several invitations to meet Lim, saying he is in “no hurry” to discuss administrative decisions made during his stewardship of Penang.

lim guan eng and penang Lim said it would be unfair of the state government to reveal the previous administration’s wrongdoings without hearing Koh’s side of the story.

“However, if he refuses to meet me, I would say he is running away from his responsibility and attempting to cover up,” said Lim.

“Why he does not want to meet me? Because he knows that the decisions he had made were something not quite right.”

Lim also claimed that Koh is silent because his decisions have failed to conform to the public interest, leading to severe revenue losses for the current DAP-led state government.

“We do not want to confront him or implicate him in anything. We merely want to know why nothing was done by Koh on certain decisions and issues,” Lim said.

koh tsu koon wawasan university 220906 talk Among the major issues cited are a land scam which allegedly caused the state government to lose millions of ringgit in revenue; the controversial dissolution of the Pertubuhan Bunga Tanjung; and the hotly-debated RM25 billion Penang Global City Centre mega-project.

Koh had said he felt offended by Lim who had invited him for a dialogue only after blowing up the issues in the media.

Lim countered that he could choose discuss issues which have not been revealed to the media, noting that Koh should have the courtesy to explain pressing matters and help the state government to safeguard the public interest.

Penang fell to the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition in the 12th general election held on March 8.