KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Shabudin Yahaya should be made to take reporters on a tour of his home much like how Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng did this morning, DAP MP Lim Lip Eng said.
The Segambut MP offered his sympathies to Guan Eng and his family, who he said lost the privacy of their home because of Shabudin, but lauded the chief minister for daring to invite the media into his home to prove he had nothing to hide.
Lip Eng then suggested that all Barisan Nasional (BN) mentris besar and chief ministers do the same and organise media tours of their respective homes, saying this would be to prove that they were living according to their means.
“At the very least, for the sake of journalistic fairness, the media should ask the Tasek Gelugor MP cum Penang Regional Development Authority chairman whose job revolves around constructing homes in the state anyway, to allow them to visit his home.
“Perhaps Shabudin would at the very least dare to face the media lenses, even if he didn’t dare this morning to face Guan Eng and repeat his slanderous accusation outside the Dewan Rakyat,” Lip Eng said.
Shabudin was on Friday invited to face Guan Eng in a meeting today to explain his claim in the Dewan Rakyat that the latter had engaged in “shady” dealings in his purchase of his Jalan Pinhorn bungalow in George Town last year.
The Umno lawmaker had said that Guan Eng had bought the home at a rate well below market value and had also claimed to have proof linking the purchase last year to a 2012 sale of government land in Taman Manggis to private developers to build a private hospital and hotel.
Shabudin, however, snubbed Guan Eng’s invite and held his own press conference this morning where he accused the chief minister of using cheap gimmicks to divert attention from the issue.
Guan Eng too met with the media this morning and later took them on a tour of his house to prove his openness about the property, which he said was purchased on a willing-buyer-willing-seller basis.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said Friday that it will investigate the report against Guan ENg without fear or favour, and revealed that it had previously probed him over his tenancy at the same house before.
