KUALA LUMPUR: PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man had got his facts wrong on government allocations for Penang’s development and halal industry initiatives, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng (pix) said today.
Lim was commenting on Tuan Ibrahim’s claims that he (Lim) had failed in his ministerial role after noting that while Penang had been allocated RM10 billion for development, the halal hub project was only given RM10 million.
Responding to this, Lim said Tuan Ibrahim’s claim was baseless.
“In Budget 2020, Penang was allocated RM979.5 million, and not RM10 billion, while programmes and halal industry initiatives were allocated RM125.2 million, not RM10 million,” he said in a statement here today.
Tuan Ibrahim had also resorted to slander, Lim added, when he claimed allocations by the Finance Ministry were imbalanced, especially against the East Coast states.
Lim said this claim was clearly against facts as Pas-ruled states such as Kelantan and Terengganu were given RM1.5 billion and RM1.2 billion in development funds respectively, which were far more higher than what Penang received.
“If Tuan Ibrahim is ethical and someone of moral standing, he should apologise for making slanderous and false allegations.
“Do PAS leaders have the right to resort to slander and false allegations against me just because they think I am a non-Muslim not fit to hold the position of Finance Minister?” he asked.
Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, said PAS playing with sentiments appears to echo the party’s stand that non-Muslims do not deserve to be Cabinet Ministers who have a say in government policies, especially influential posts such as the Finance Minister or Chief Minister.
After PAS and Barisan Nasional (BN) obtained strong support from the Chinese electorate in the Tanjung Piai by-election, the party (PAS) has become bold in implementing these sort of shallow-minded policies and sentiments,” he said. — Bernama
