The bungalow that’s got everybody talking

Lim Guan Eng should be careful because his political enemies may be too envious of his tenacity and performance thus far and may want to destabilise him.

COMMENT

By TK Chua

No one is perfect and we cannot expect perfect politicians to look after us. That is why we need systems and checks and balances to ensure compliance and minimum malfeasance and deviation. Sometimes it is about the lesser of two evils.

I believe Lim Guan Eng is a good politician and a good chief minister of Penang, despite whatever shortcomings he may have. His position has always been precarious. He faces more odds than others when trying to do what he wants for Penang and Malaysia. There are people, from within his own party, NGOs, as well as his political enemies who just cannot wait for the right moment to criticise and destabilise him.

Politicians are criticised when they do wrong, that is for sure. However, sometimes politicians are targeted when they are too impartial, straight and firm.

Lim should be very careful because he is not an ordinary politician. His colleagues may have an axe to grind. Businesspeople may be unhappy with his decisions. His political enemies may be too envious of his tenacity and performance thus far.

Accusations against him are expected. What more when a bungalow of more than 10,000 square feet was sold to him at a very attractive price. Most would capitalise on the opportunity to criticise and vilify him.

Personally I do not think Lim would have been that foolish to be involved in something so blatant. Say whatever you like, it is never easy for Opposition politicians to be corrupt in this country.

If he is innocent, he should let the process runs its course. There is no need for him to make statements which will only create more doubt and provide more ammunition to his enemies.

It is useless to say that the price of the property was agreed upon earlier unless there was an agreement attesting to it. It is also useless to say that he was not aware of the market value of the bungalow. I am quite sure whatever price transacted between the parties without duress is not a crime. Someone could have donated the bungalow to him out of respect, love and affection, for all we care.

To me, the best defence to all these allegations is for the previous owner of this bungalow to make a statement or a statutory declaration that there was no quid pro quo in this transaction that involved Lim’s performance as the chief minister of Penang. It is for the relevant authorities to investigate and validate the declaration fairly and transparently.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.