In a statement emailed to the press this evening Lim said that he had instructed his lawyers to send a legal notice of demand for defamation against The Star and Tan.
He accused the MCA-owned newspaper of publishing a “false and misleading report” and said that media controlled by the Barisan Nasional (BN) parties, such as The Star, had “persistently demonised and continued their character assassination” against him after he was charged with two counts of corruption on June 30.
It is the second time Lim has taken action against the Star and Joceline Tan. A previous action was settled out of court, with the paper publishing an apology. Lim has also won and lost defamation actions against Utusan Malaysia and the New Straits Times.
An action against Free Malaysia Today was awarded in favour of FMT on appeal last year when the appeal judges held that the descriptions Lim complained about had been made of him as a public official in his position of chief minister of Penang.
Today’s column by Joceline Tan, running to almost 50 paragraphs, dealt with the circumstances of a meeting of the DAP leadership to discuss a response to the charges and how Tony Pua had argued for a snap state general election, while Penang leaders remained silent.
Tan also dealt with Lim’s apparent loss of favour among sections of Penang society, and made references to Lim’s reputation for high-handedness as well as to mega-projects which he has championed.
She wrote that “The last couple of years has also seen a dip in Guan Eng’s image. His habit of blaming Barisan for everything has started to wear thin. The educated class has grown uncomfortable with his authoritarian style, be it his propensity for mega projects as well as his way of dealing with dissent in his party and coalition. “The noise level has gone up,” said the DAP insider.”
Lim said in his statement that “whilst there is nothing new with these repeated attempts to disrupt party unity and the Penang state government with serial lies, this column by Joceline Tan clearly “crossed the red line” and was made in bad faith to smear my reputation and image with fresh and baseless allegations of impropriety.”
He said in his statement that BN-controlled media had “gone into overdrive” by hurling “unfounded allegations of corruption” in a deal involving a one-acre plot of state land at Taman Manggis.
“Despite nightly TV reports and acres of newsprint on Taman Manggis land, no corruption charge was filed against me relating to Taman Manggis,” he said.
However, Tan’s column did not go into the details of the Taman Manggis land. Instead, she said there were fears about what might be revealed at Lim’s trial and mentioned talk of possible charges that might arise from the Taman Manggis controversy.
She also wrote that “Stories about a Penang-born fund manager based in Hong Kong and his links with Penang politicians have also begun to circulate in a way that seem to point to something big in the making. Then there is talk that the authorities are investigating the manner by which the former Penang racecourse stretch of land was rezoned. All this has added to the unsettling times.”