Koh's 'Incredible Hulk' moment

GEORGE TOWN, Thurs: 

Enough of Mr Nice Guy. The opposition attack which has been coming hard and fast from all directions in Penang has spurred embattled Gerakan acting president and Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon to fight back.

The normally composed Koh has transformed into a livid man. The fact was not lost on reporters covering his daily press conferences.

The outgoing chief minister was finally asked why he looked angry by a reporter and an irritated Koh immediately snapped back, saying that he was not stressed or angry.

"It is just that all these allegations, questions and answers is taking up a lot of my time,” he said. "I am just trying to drive home a point…I am fighting back.”

Earlier, Koh had spent two hours explaining how Penang was now placed ninth as the most liveable city in Asia before outlining how the island was set to enjoy further growth as many projects had been planned under the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER).
Koh explained that all the projects were successfully implemented and that Penang needed experienced and energetic leaders to drive the new phase.

It was then that Koh started getting visibly upset when he touched on how the opposition, especially DAP leaders, had been running down the state government's efforts.

Touching on the leaked correspondence between him and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi about the Motorola plant here, Koh said the DAP leaders had taken pot shots at him by exposing contents of the letter.

"They exposed a confidential letter and it is very damaging for Penang and also the country,” he said. "How are investors going to trust us if we have such irresponsible opposition?"

Koh became more agitated when he was asked on another letter exposed by the opposition involving Penang Bridge concessionaire, UEM Group and the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Department. The letter purportedly contained a proposal by UEM to increase the Penang Bridge toll from the current RM7 to RM9.40.

Koh said the state government had not been informed of any proposal and all companies were free to propose anything.

However, the state government had always gone all out to fight any proposed increase in the Penang Bridge toll. This was a proven fact as the toll for the bridge had remained unchanged since the bridge was constructed in 1985.

"There were at least two previous occasions, once in 1998 and again in 2003, when toll was supposed to be increased,” he said. “However, we managed to convince the federal government not to increase it on both occasions.”

--NST