GEORGE TOWN, May 22 -- Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state has always depended on land transactions - through leases, alienation, and other methods under the National Land Code - to generate revenue.

He said Penang lacks natural resources such as mines or a logging industry, and without these revenue streams, the state must rely on its land and land reclamation to create more land.

"What is there to be ashamed about the state disposing of its lands for revenue for the sake of development?" he said in his winding-up speech at the state legislative assembly today.

Chow said Penang has depended on this model for the past five decades, and there is nothing shameful about it.

He added that if Penang had not followed this app...