Abdullah: Wrong for Kah Choon to accept offers - NST

KUALA LUMPUR: April 23, 2008

The move by Datuk Lee Kah Choon to accept the posts of director of Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and investPenang is opposed to the Barisan Nasional spirit, said party chairman Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Abdullah, who is also prime minister, said Lee cannot accept the two posts offered by the Penang state government before conferring with the Gerakan leadership.

The former Gerakan deputy secretary-general must first seek the views and decision of the party leadership on the offer, he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

"I want to hear the views of Gerakan acting president (Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon) on this matter.

"Any subsequent action on Lee will be left to Gerakan to decide."

On the same issue, DAP chairman Karpal Singh said it was wrong for Lee to accept the appointment and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should not have offered it in the first place.

"He (Lee) is still a Gerakan member and it is just not right. It is not sound. One can't be in two places at the same time," Karpal, who is the Bukit Gelugor MP, told the New Straits Times.

With views eerily similar to that of Gerakan adviser Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, Karpal insisted they were his own and not the party's.

"PDC is the investment arm of the state government, headed by the DAP, which was voted into power by the Penang people. It is unfair to see a BN person, whom they rejected, take office.

"Lee stood against us, and now he wants to join us. That is not the point Penang people were trying to make when they voted us in."

He added that it was not possible for a person with a different political ideology from the party in government to work together.

Karpal said he was not consulted by Lim, who is also the DAP secretary-general, over the move.

"I found out about this through the newspapers. Anyway, this is the prerogative of the state government, not the party's."