Lim was paying 20 per cent of the rental using his salary, said Ng. — File pic
Gerakan had attacked the DAP secretary-general and claimed that he owns the property, Ng said.
Refuting Gerakan’s allegation, Ng said Lim was renting the “fully-furnished” house at the rate of RM5,000 a month.
“As CM (Chief Minister), he is entitled to RM4,000 housing allowance paid by the state government every month.
“It means that CM has to fork out another RM1,000 from his own pocket to pay the rental,” said Ng in an email today, adding that it “cannot be considered as luxury property as it has no swimming pool.”
“We have practised the highest degree of integrity all this while, even to the extent [of making] public the tenancy agreement even though this is only CM’s rented property,” he said, adding that the agreement was shown this morning.
Earlier today, Ng pointed out that leaders from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition need not to explain their purchase of houses, citing the former Selangor mentri besar Mohamad Khir Toyo as an example.
“On Gerakan’s attacks on CM’s rented house, it seems that Lim Guan Eng is the only CM or MB (mentri besar) in Malaysia who is asked to explain [his] renting a house to stay as compared to BN leaders who need not to explain, even though they buy houses, some like palace resort owned by Khir Toyo,” he said at a press conference.
Ng said that Lim had decided to rent the “fully-furnished” house three years ago after discovering that repairs to the chief minister’s official residence would cost an estimated RM500,000.
The official state residence, Sri Teratai, “was in a very bad condition and infested with termites,” the Komtar state assemblyman said.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) took over Penang from the BN component party Gerakan after Election 2008.
BN Penang has increasingly attacked Lim’s administration as the 13th general election draws near.
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