GEORGE TOWN, March 4 — Penang state executive councillors and former chief minister Lim Guan Eng should take controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin to court for defamation over the latter’s undersea tunnel graft allegations, Gerakan said today.
Gerakan Vice President Oh Tong Keong said the project delivery partner, Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZC), should also take the blogger to court.
“If his blog posts about the RM6.3 billion project are all lies and defamatory, the state government, the excos implicated and the contractor should sue Raja Petra and make him retract his posts,” he said when asked to comment on the graft allegations today.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has labelled the political blogger as a liar and that the posts on the project were lies.
CZC Senior Executive Director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli also responded to say the posts were “pure fiction” meant to deceive and defame the Penang state government and CZC.
Oh said the Penang state government and CZC can immediately debunk all these lies by revealing all in court.
“What do they have to lose? The former chief minister used to sue anyone who defamed him so he should also sue Raja Petra,” he said.
Over the past week, Raja Petra alleged in several posts that several Penang state excos were implicated in Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigations into the undersea tunnel and three paired roads project.
Oh said it is time that the state government be more transparent with its mega infrastructure projects.
“The state government needs to be more transparent and reveal the details on its undersea tunnel and Penang Transport Master Plan projects,” he said.
He accused the state government of keeping the details of the projects under wraps.
Package Two of the undersea tunnel project, a paired road to connect Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway to Air Itam, is expected to start on August 31.
Package One, in two phases, is to connect Tanjung Bungah to Batu Ferringhi and to connect Batu Ferringhi to Teluk Bahang.
The third package is to connect Gurney Drive to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway.
The undersea tunnel will be the final component of the whole project to be implemented.
The Penang state government is still awaiting federal approval for several components of its Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) project including the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project, LRT and Pan Island Link 1.
