'Time for UMNO to stop lies against Penang CM'

Dec 15: Penang PAS said it was time that UMNO and Barisan Nasional stopped its campaign against chief minister Lim Guan Eng with accusations of him being anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

Its information chief Bukhori Ghazali said yesterday's court victory by Lim in his libel suit against right-wing Malay daily Utusan Malaysia was further proof that the accusations were lies.

"The accusations against Lim Guan Eng are all lies. The court has decided (that he is not anti-Islam and anti-Malay)," said Bukhori.

The Penang High Court ordered Utusan Malaysia to pay RM200,000 in damages and RM25,000 in costs to Lim for making defamatory statements suggesting that Lim and the DAP were foreign tools to undermine Islam.
Lim had earlier promised to donate money won from the suit to poverty eradication programmes.

The suit against the paper was filed on January 6 this year over its article titled “Kebiadapan Guan Eng”, in which the paper accused him and the DAP of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam. Lim's letter of demand was ignored by the paper, who had been dedicating its pages to attack the DAP-led state government.

“Utusan should take heed of this incident and avoid slanderous reporting in the future,” Lim said in his immediate response.