KUALA LUMPUR: One man said he was searching for the whole truth. The other accused him of merely telling half truths.

This was the tone of the public debate on alleged land scandals between Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and his predecessor Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon last night.

The one-hour debate did not reveal anything new as Lim continuously harped on the possibility of the state losing RM40 million due to a "scandal" in giving a plot of land to a quarry operator.

He questioned why Koh and his government had not taken any stern action against the culprit responsible for the "loss", except to give a warning letter to the Land Office staff.

Koh countered by saying that his administration had investigated the "mistake" in awarding the 4.2ha of land to a quarry operator before handing over the probe to the Anti-Corruption Agency.
"When the ACA said there was no evidence of fraud, I was not happy.

"We formed a committee and re-investigated the case internally.

"We forwarded the case again to the ACA for another probe."

Koh said as the ACA again found that there was no fraud, no other action could be taken against the officer for the "mistake".

He chided Lim for not re-opening the case and conducting his own investigation if he was adamant that there was a "scandal".

"Transferring the officer to another department is just a transfer. It is not a punishment," he said, in countering Lim's assertion that the new state government was firmer against errant government servants.

Koh also took to task Lim's assertion that the state government would lose RM40 million because of the land scandal.

He reminded Lim that the previous state government did not accept the claim of RM40 million from the quarry operator but was pursuing the case in court.

"We believe we have a case," he said.

The debate titled Kisah Benar Di Sebalik Kontroversi Tanah di Pulau Pinang (The truth behind the land controversy in Penang) was organised by AgendaDaily with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) chairman and NST columnist Datuk Johan Jaaffar as moderator.

Lim said the public debate would not have been necessary if Koh had accepted his invitation to meet him to discuss the land "scandals".

Koh replied that the debate was the best place to seek the whole truth as everyone could hear for themselves the facts..

At a press conference after the debate, Koh accused Lim of trying to steal the Barisan Nasional's thunder by claiming that the DAP-led state government would eradicate hardcore poverty in Penang within a year.

Koh said there were only a few hundred hardcore poor in Penang and the BN had commissioned Universiti Sains Malaysia several years ago to conduct a study and develop ways to solve the problem.