Boleh percaya ka??

The state government spent RM1.2 million for trips overseas during its three-and-a-half-year tenure in Penang, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told the state assembly today.

From March 2008 until March 2011, the state spent RM146,284 for 20 visits involving the chief minister and RM1,066,697 for 123 visits involving the deputy chief minister and state executive council members (exco).

Lim (left ) added that when BN led the state, it spent RM149,326 for 10 official visits involving the chief minister and RM782,988 for 56 visits involving the deputy chief minister and other exco members.

This amount was for the years from March 2005 to February 2008, said Lim.

"As a comparison, the average cost for the chief minister's official visits under the BN government was RM14,932.60, compared with RM7,314.20 under the Pakatan government," he added.

The Penang legislative assembly opened today with a question and answer session in the morning and the tabling of the state budget for 2012 in the afternoon.

The assembly will break tomorrow for Deepavali and resume from Oct 31 to Nov 4.

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, was answering a question from Sungai Bakap assemblyperson Maktar Shapee, who asked for a comparison between the BN and Pakatan state governments' expenditures on official visits for the duration of three years.

Maktar, who is a PKR assemblyperson, wanted to know the amount of public funds spent on overseas trips by the chief ministers and state exco members.

Arif Omar Shah (BN-Seberang Jaya) asked how much the state had spent for trips involving the families of the CM and the state exco.

Arif asked Lim to list the expenses for the overseas trips during Pakatan's three years rule in Penang but Lim said he did not have the information yet.

At this point, Seri Delima assemblyperson RSN Rayer asked if the state had used any public funds to purchase a luxurious diamond ring for family members.

BN assemblypersons from Umno started to protest and questioned the relevancy of this question but Rayer insisted that it was related to the state budget expenses.

"De facto Law Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz had admitted that a RM24 million diamond ring entered the country for the prime minister's wife," he said.

"I am just asking the chief minister whether Penang had spent any public funds for such a ring," Rayer said.