7 March 2018

Press Statement by MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Dr. Wee Ka Siong (07-03-2018)

Wee: Lim Guan Eng has no guts to debate me, dares not face the Penang undersea scandal which incurred losses of at least RM20bil

1. I am not surprised by Lim Guan Eng's refusal to debate me as he knows he will lose badly.

2. I am however surprised with the length of his press statement which runs to five pages long in trying to justify his cowardice not to accept the debate.

3. He can write 50 or 500 more pages of excuses but the fact remains that Guan Eng is not brave enough to publicly debate me on the Penang Tunnel scandal that involves up to RM20 billion of losses to the Penang people.

4. Despite Guan Eng and I exchanging press statements over the tunnel scandal over more than a month, suddenly he deems that I am not qualified to debate him because I am Deputy President and not the President.

5. Guan Eng knows that unlike using press statements, his previous illogical answers on the Penang Tunnel scandal would not stand up to scrutiny during a live public debate and he would have been ridiculed. This is why he refuses to debate and prefers to write a very long statement of excuses not to debate.

6. Malaysians have been rocked by arrests after arrests by the MACC (at least 7 persons so far) and revelations after another as they start to realize size and scale of the corruption, lies and wrong-doings in the Penang Tunnel scandal. The latest revelation was that RM22mil was paid by the Tunnel SPV in an effort to stop investigation into corruption. Malaysians are now asking how much bigger is the actual corruption if RM22mil was paid to try and cover it.

Despite this growing scandal which is the worst in Penang's history, Guan Eng still refuses to come clean.

7. If Guan Eng insist on seniority then Guan Eng's father, who is undisputed defacto leader of DAP, Guan Eng is ranked second after his father, so he should take up the challenge to debate me. Unlike me, Guan Eng is very lucky to have his father in the same party to back him up and shore up his fortunes within the party.

8.It seems that Guan Eng does not understand that this Tunnel issue is about him in the capacity of the Chief Minister of Penang and his management of billions in state assets and funds and has nothing to do with partisan politics. It is his duty and responsibility to explain the scandal of his pet project.

9. Chief Minister, among many other major issues, your state government has already paid RM220mil (via a land swap) to Consortium Zenith for the cost report of 3 major roads which is equivalent to RM11mil per KM, it’s indeed the highest consultancy fee in the world. The toll concession is also the most lopsided in the history of Malaysia where the private company will be fully paid to make profits to construct the tunnel but still allowed to collect toll for 30 years and make additional billions from it. It is also the first construction project where the concession company is only asked to start construction of the tunnel 10 years after the project is awarded.

These are only some the issues.and yet you refuse to debate and come clean. What say you?

10.I recommend that the DAP throw out their claims to be transparent  If Guan Eng dares not even answer me as a minister and a deputy president then what chance does the man in the street have of getting an honest explanation from him?

11. As for Deputy Chief Minister II P.Ramasamy's statement arguing that his boss should not debate me because DAP has greater public support during GE13 compared to MCA, I would like to tell him that having public support does not mean it is a license for DAP leaders to commit wrong-doings, be corrupted or act arrogantly.

12. I understand that it is P.Ramasamy's job to please his boss but please be reminded that you cannot try and hide behind public support if you are involved in corruption

13.If you change your mind or suddenly be man enough to debate me then please tell me. I am ready to debate Guan Eng on the Penang Tunnel in Malay, Chinese or English languages anytime he wishes. There is no need to write dozens of pages of excuses if you are simply not brave enough to debate.

14. Regardless of his decision, I will continue to expose how DAP's corrupt practises over this one project alone have resulted in current and potential losses in the tens of billions to the Penang people.

-MCA Online-