We must remember that there are major pending allegations surrounding Malaysia and in particular her Prime Minister, such as 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the USD 681 million deposit in his personal account.
We must not let these real serious issues be clouded by the unverified allegations against the Penang Chief Minister over his purchase of his bungalow. It is hoped that the investigations in this regard is conducted expeditiously so as to clear his good name.
Clearly, the good and positive aspect of this is that the fact of his purchase of the bungalow is a fact that is not denied.
It is not denied because, all elected representatives in Pakatan Harapan and DAP, in Penang, have publicly declared our assets. This exercise was in fact undertaken after the 2008 12th General Elections by the Penang State Government, whereby the Chief Minister and all Penang EXCO members declared their assets.
Subsequent to this, in the last 13th General Elections, this asset declaration exercise was extended not only to the Chief Minister and his EXCO but now to all elected Assemblymen as well.
This asset declaration exercise is an integral part of good governance to ensure cleaner leadership and which can foster public confidence in government and enhance the legitimacy of the government in the eyes of the public.
It should be noted that this exercise even in Penang and Selangor (for EXCO members), is done only voluntarily at this point and as such, it ought to be considered whether it should be legislated, so as to make this asset declaration exercise a statutory obligation.
Having this scenario in mind, it is completely unacceptable to note that in this day and age, this asset declaration exercise is NOT being practised by BN, be it at Penang State level nor their counterparts at the Federal level. This is despite Penang BN UMNO Assemblymen having been invited to do so by the Penang Chief Minister.
As the issue at hand is being transparent, where ownership of assets and property is concerned by public elected representatives, I hereby challenge all UMNO BN representatives to similarly declare their assets and properties as has been done by Pakatan elected representatives, within the next 48 hours so all Penangites and Malaysians can evaluate for themselves whether they need to be further scrutinised.