Press Statement by Jeffrey Chew in Georgetown on Thursday, 22^nd October 2009:

Dato Dr Teng Hock Nan should apologize for lying that the maintenance cost for PG1, the official car for the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan cost RM50,000 per month

According to report by the State Finance Department (Jabatan Kewangan Negeri), maintenance cost for PG1, the official car for the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng cost only RM17,003.75 for year 2009 as at 7 October 2009, which means RM1,700 monthly averagely and not RM50,000 a month as what Dato Dr Teng Hock Nan claimed through the media. This work out to a shocking and ridiculous sum of RM600,000 a year which costs more than a new Mercedes.

In the same report mentioned, maintenance cost for PG1 in year 2008 was RM84,300. This is inclusive of the RM64,722 cost to overhaul the engine of the vehicle. This RM64,722 overhaul took place on 11 January 2008, during Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon’s administration.

In conclusion, the regular maintenance cost for the 14 years Mercedes PG1 (bought in 1995) was only RM19,578 for the year 2008 and has not even reach RM20,000 a year. According to records, the car underwent engine overhaul service twice. This contradicts Dr Teng’s claim that the cost of maintaining PG1 was possibly up to RM50,000 per month.

According to the report from Finance Department, the maintenance cost of Perdana V6 aged 5 years costs almost the same as the Mercedes Benz which has been used for more than 10 years. For instance, PAF 1 (Perdana V6) cost RM 35,489.80 for maintenance in 2008, and PDU 111 cost RM22, 270.15 in 2008 and RM29,640.70 as to October 2009.

We hope Dr Teng Hock Nan will start to give more factual statements and not simply try to mislead the public by giving any estimated amount that he believes was true. This is another attempt by Dr Teng to sabotage the hard work of the current administration in driving down the public expenditure. I urge Dr.Teng to act as a responsible and in order to do so, he must first start to check his facts before he starts to accuse with baseless claims.

We are also surprised that the previous state government had spent RM64,722 to overhaul the PG1 car engine which is more than the value of a 14 year old S320 Mercedes.

In line with the Penang State Government CAT (Competencies, Accountabilities and Transparencies) principle, the State Finance Department has issued a notice to all Drivers of official cars to obtain 3 quotations prior to any repair / maintenance job. The quotations will be used to choose the best service coupled with the most competitive price to minimize the wastage of state fund. Before Pakatan Rakyat Government took over administration in 2008, all service provider of repair / maintenance job was just the desirable decision by the driver himself.

Dato Dr. Teng should behave responsibly and apologize for his lies against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng that other maintenance cost for PG1 is RM50,000 per month or RM600,000 a year.

* Jeffrey Chew, Special Officer to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng