By Susan Loone
Jun 13, 11 | MalaysiaKini
A local think-tank has questioned former chief minister Koh Tsu Koon if he was planning to sabotage the Greater Penang Transformation Programme by calling for the release of the state’s blueprint.
Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute (Seri) executive director Liew Chin Tong asked today whether Koh, who is a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, was not prepared for a joint federal-state plan to be produced.
In April last year, Seri was officially tasked by the state government to prepare a five-year blueprint for the period 2011 to 2015.
The committee is headed by former senator and pioneer general manager of the Penang Development Corporation, Chet Singh.
Liew said about 200 roundtable consultations were conducted between April and October last year, with a “draft final” version printed and circulated among policy makers and key state civil servants.
The discussions among policy makers and key state civil servants were held while the draft was sent to peers abroad for review.
Amendments were made and the blueprint was now ready to be made public for consultation and affirmation.
“We intend to have the widest possible acceptance within the government and by the community to smooth its final implementation,” Liew, who is also Bukit Bendera MP, told a press conference in Penang.
Yesterday, Koh challenged Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to officially unveil his promised Penang blueprint for the sake of Penangites.
Until today, Koh said, Lim was unable to produce the master plan that he said was ready.
Lim responded to this by inviting members of the public to view the blueprint at his office in Komtar.
Liew also said that Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) chief executive officer Idris Jala had called on Lim on Feb 19 and they had agreed that a Greater Penang Transformation Programme lab should be held, upon the final consent of the prime minister.
On April 1, Premier Najib Razak and Lim issued a joint statement confirming the arrangement.
“It was also decided that the Penang Blueprint will be deferred, in deference of a joint federal-state plan,” Liew said.
“I have always suspected that there are two drivers in Pemandu. I am shocked that, of all people, Koh Tsu Koon was the one questioning why the blueprint was not disclosed to the public.”