PETALING JAYA, Jan 22 — Khairy Jamaluddin today reminded Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng not to be arrogant after the latter questioned the Pahang state government’s ability to develop the state due to its RM3.2 billion in outstanding debt.

Khairy took to Twitter to point out that Penang was in a similar situation when Lim was chief minister in 2017 and that the Barisan Nasional government had helped settle Penang’s RM655 million debt to Putrajaya.

“So there is no reason to be arrogant now with regard to the Pahang state government,” he said in a Twitter posting today.

Lim had said Pahang owes Putrajaya RM3.2 billion, as at the end of 2018, the highest out of all states, the Finance Ministry said today in debunking the state’s Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail’s claim of a budget surplus.

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Khairy, who is also Rembau MP, said he had checked Pahang’s debt in the auditor-general’s report which was politicised by Lim.

“It seems like a significant portion (70 per cent) of Pahang’s debt was related to water. This is the same debt that was paid off by the federal government on behalf of Penang then,” he said.

He said Lim’s media statement on Pahang’s debt situation was clearly politically motivated as it coincided with the by-election in Cameron Highlands.

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“Please be professional in your media statements. Please use @dapmalaysia if you want to make a political statement,” Khairy said in reference to DAP’s official Twitter handle.

Lim through the Finance Ministry had issued a statement that Pahang has also been in deficit for at least the past four years, and questioned the state’s ability to manage sustainable spending.