Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today he is planning to sue the New Straits Times (NST) over claims that he had leaked national secrets after the newspaper omitted him from an apology to two other personalities over an article it admitted was without any foundation or basis.
The NST, Berita Minggu and Mingguan Malaysia apologised to Datuk Seri Kalimullah Hassan on October 23 for alleging that he had leaked state secrets at a dinner with leaders of Singapore’s ruling PAP party.
All three acknowledged that the claim, made by Perkasa information chief Ruslan Kassim, was without any foundation or basis.
The weekend papers also promised not to publish further allegations of this nature involving the ECM Libra Financial Group Bhd chairman without prior verification.
Perkasa predicted today that Malay voters will reject any MIC candidates in the coming polls, saying the Barisan Nasional (BN) party was responsible for scrapping the controversial Interlok novel from the school syllabus.
The government has decided to withdraw Interlok from the Form Five syllabus when the new school year starts, with MIC president Datuk G. Palanivel saying yesterday that the Cabinet had reached the decision last week.
The novel by national laureate Datuk Abdullah Hussain is part of the literature requirement in the Bahasa Malaysia syllabus for Form Five students. It was published in 1971 and is set in Penang at the turn of the 20th century during the colonisation of Malaya by the British.
Utusan Malaysia today expressed confidence that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would be convicted of his sodomy charge, but predicted that public unrest would follow the trial decision.
The Umno daily’s columnist, writing under the pseudonym of Awang Selamat, charged that Anwar was the first Opposition leader in the world to be associated with so many “moral and ethical” scandals.
In the weekend edition of Utusan, Mingguan Malaysia, Awang claimed to be privy to information of a PKR-led strategy once Anwar is convicted on January 9.
Awang said that Anwar would resort to “anything to save himself”, and that he would not stand idly by and accept the court’s decision, knowing that it will be the “most significant moment in his life and political career.”
“There is a possibility of a unexpected plan. We will await the surprise,” the Utusan columnist said.
The Election Commission has ordered the removal of several contentious banners and billboards by both Barisan Nasional and PAS in the Bagan Pinang constituency.
The EC has barred political parties not contesting the Bagan Pinang by-election from putting up campaign materials in the constituency and has since removed flags, banners, billboards and symbols of DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) that were erected by campaign workers.
He pointed out that if EC was making it an issue to ban campaign materials of uncontesting parties in Bagan Pinang, then it should also ensure that only BN paraphernalia were hung up while that of Umno, MCA and MIC be barred as well.
EC accused of bias and taking side.
"The stakes are high here in Bagan Pinang. If the EC continues to take down our campaign materials, then directly or indirectly they are taking sides," said Lim, who is also MP for Ipoh Timur.
In August 2009, PR announced that it would be a legally registered organisation before the next general election which would be held by 2013 the latest. Under the rules of the ROS, a political coalition must consist of at least seven parties.
Meanwhile, PKR supreme council member S Manikavasagam said the EC chairman's statement was indirectly getting the commission involved in the affairs of political parties and as such did not portray an apolitical image.
"They (EC) would know by now that PR is expected to register as a coalition sometime soon. As such, the issue of us getting registered does not arise," he noted.
"When the three parties (PKR-DAP-PAS) campaigned as a team in the last general election, why did the EC not ban campaign materials of uncontesting parties in any constituency?" said Manikavasagam, who is also Kapar MP.
He added that it was the freedom of each political party and voters in the constituency to put up flags as well as banners and billboards so long as such materials were not seditious and slanderous in nature.
EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar was reported to have said that only contesting parties were allowed to put up campaign paraphernalia as those uncontesting were not paying an election deposit and should not be allowed to put up such materials.
Under EC rules, a candidate has to deposit RM5,000 to contest a state seat and RM10,000 for a parliamentary seat. Additional deposits of RM3,000 and RM5,000 are also required for putting up campaign materials in state and parliamentary constituencies respectively during an election.
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The Election Commission has ordered the removal of several contentious banners and billboards by both Barisan Nasional and PAS in the Bagan Pinang constituency. ----
