KUALA LUMPUR – DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng has begun taking legal action against Kepala Batas MP Siti Mastura Mohamad for making false statements with her claims that he is related to the late communist leader, Chin Peng.
Guan Eng said he has appointed Datuk Sankara Narayan Nair as his lawyer to initiate criminal action and legal proceedings against Siti Mastura, who made those claims in a political speech in Kemaman at a PAS event for its young women members on November 4.
The Bagan MP also wants PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, as well as Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, to state publicly whether they agree with Sti Mastura’s claims.
Guan Eng’s decision to appoint a lawyer comes after Siti Mastura failed to meet his challenge to provide proof for her claims. He had given her until yesterday.
She had claimed that Guan Eng and his father, Lim Kit Siang, were related to former Malayan Communist Party leader Chin Peng and former Singapore prime minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew.
“By using non-existent family ties to strike fear against both DAP and the Chinese, (it) is clearly racist and extremist,” Guan Eng said in a statement, referring to the long-standing demonisation of DAP by Malay opposition parties.
“What makes Siti Mastura’s irresponsible behaviour more unacceptable is that there is no remorse from (her) that she made a hate speech full of outrageous lies, racism, and extremism,” he added.
“She has refused to show proof of the alleged family ties, nor has she recanted or apologised for her outrageous lies and malicious slander.”
Guan Eng also expressed concern, as PAS supporters were praising and encouraging her behaviour, simply because her statements sparked ire among DAP leaders, supporters, and the people.
On November 4, Siti Mastura claimed that Guan Eng and his father, DAP stalwart Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang, were related to the two aforementioned figures, during her speech at a PAS programme in Kemaman.
Her speech, uploaded to YouTube, showed her alleging that Guan Eng’s wife, Betty Chew, was cousins with Seputeh MP Teresa Kok.
Mastura also claimed Guan Eng and his father were related to DAP secretary-general and Transport Minister Anthony Loke, Local Government and Development Minister Nga Kor Ming, and Beruas MP Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham were related to each other.
For the record, it has been reported that Nga and Ngeh are indeed cousins.
Additionally, she “renamed” the late Singapore premier Lee Kuan Yew as “Lim”, Guan Eng said, “to justify (her) lies”.
Yesterday, several DAP lawmakers lodged a police report against Siti Mastura after she failed to retract her statements against the party’s leaders.
Ngeh and Kok have also debunked Siti Mastura’s claims, adding that she was unfit to be a leader.
Despite this, Siti Mastura refused to answer questions about her allegations when pressed to do so in the Dewan Rakyat and also reportedly dodged journalists later when asked about the matter. – November 10, 2023