GEORGE TOWN, Oct 31 — The Penang government should explain how much it spent on the Asia Comic Cultural Museum between May 2016 and September this year, said Gerakan after claiming this could be as much as RM2.7 million.

Gerakan deputy president Oh Tong Keong said the government admitted to sponsoring the museum’s rental since May 2016, meaning it was paying large sums for a private company each month.

“We do not know how much the rental the state had paid but based on the market rental price of a commercial unit in Komtar at about RM5 per square foot, the museum’s lot is about 13,000 square feet, so the rental comes up to about RM65,000 each month,” he said.

Oh, who is also Penang Gerakan chairman, said the rental price was based on a commercial lot in Komtar of 23,000 square feet that was rented out at RM120,000 per month or about RM5.20 per square foot.

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Oh said this worked out to RM2.7 million if it was RM65,000 monthly.

“If the state continued to pay the rental until December 2020, they would have paid RM3.64 million for the museum,” he said.

He asked Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow why the state government is using public funds to sponsor a private company.

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“The chief minister has said so many times that the museum is not related to the state administration and that it was a private company so why is the state government giving millions of the people’s money to a private company?” he asked.

He said the RM65,000 each month would have been better spent if it went towards poor families who needed financial help.

“The RM65,000 each month could have went to 100 poverty-stricken families,” he said.

Oh also claimed that the Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC) is a partner in the museum.

“According to the information I have, PYDC is a profit-oriented organization. It is a profitable institution so why does the state government use the Penang taxpayers’ money to fund the money-making museum?” he asked.

He demanded that the Penang state government reveal the actual sum it has paid for the museum’s rental each month and the total sum it has paid to-date.

“The state government must be transparent in this. How much have they paid? Why are they paying a private enterprise? They must stop sponsoring the museum immediately and use the funds for the people instead,” he said.

He reminded Chow that Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng proposed cutting grants to Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) University College in Budget 2020 because it was a for-profit educational institution.

“The Asia Comic Cultural Museum is a profitable private company so is it appropriate for the state government to be funding it?” he asked.

He said TAR University College is an educational institution that had benefited tens of thousands of students from poor families, many of whom went on to become DAP members and leaders, and yet its grant was cut by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

He said it did not seem appropriate that a profit-making museum that does not benefit poor families is being funded by the PH state government.