by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Sunday, May 15, 1994:
Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon should intervene in the KOMTAR car park scandal to ensure that 1,150 parking bays are built at the Komtar area to relieve traffic congestion
The month-long silence Dr. Koh Tsu Koon on the KOMTAR car park scandal has raised another big question about his credibility and authority as Penang Chief Minister.
The KOMTAR car park scandal is a triple scandal in that it involved the scandalous irresponsibility of three authorities, namely the Penang Development Corporation, the MPPP and finally, the Chief Minister for the following reasons:
• The failure of PDC, which built KOMTAR, to comply with building requirements in failing provide for 1,150 car parks and 30,225 motorcycle and bicycle lots in KOMTAR;
• The failure of MPPP to enforce building requirements to compel PDC to build the number of car, motorcycle and bicycle parking lots at KOMTAR; and
• The failure of the Chief Minister to intervene to resolve the issue as he is both the superior authority over MPPP a well as PDC Chairman.
Koh Tsu Koon should realise that the scandal and the farce of the KOMTAR parking lots ends up as his personal failure if he does not intervene to resolve the issue because of his dual role and responsibilities.
The impression that the MPPP President, Datuk Tan Gim Hwa has given is that the MPPP is only ‘greedy’ for the RM2.2 million payment from PDC, and is utterly insensitive to the importance that PDC should comply with the requirements to build the 1,150 car parking bays and 30,225 motorcycle and bicycle parking lots in KOMTAR to resolve the congestion in the heart of Georgetown.
So long as the required car, motor-cycle and bicycle parking lots in KOMTAR are not provided, MPPP, PDC and the State Government must be held responsible for the traffic congestion in Georgetown.
Furthermore, MPPP and the other authorities like the traffic police would have lost the moral right to prosecute and persecute motorists and motor-cyclists by issuing traffic offences particularly those involving parking.
Tsu Koon should intervene immediately to resolve KOMTAR parking scandal to ensure that the 1,150 car parking bays and 30,225 motor cycle lots are constructed at the KOMTAR area or he would have to bear personal and direct responsibility for it when the Penang State Assembly meets on May 30.
For a start, Tsu Koon should direct the MPPP to with¬hold issuing a permanent certificate of fitness for occupation (CF) to KOMTAR by returning the RM2.2 million that has been paid by PDC. MPPP must not be greedy for RM2.2 million as it is the building (if the required parking lots at KOMTAR area which is the crucial issue here.