The party said it could not understand the strong reaction from the media circle and called on “certain parties” to not make their own conclusions on the term used by Lim.
“He did not say that all media are ‘Barisan Nasional media’. He was clearly referring to Barisan Nasional-owned media.
“Hence, we hope that certain parties will not be overly assumptive and presumptuous as if to own up to their guilt,” the Penang chief minister’s office said in a statement released today.
The response from Lim’s office came after MJA had reportedly said that the DAP secretary-general had disrespected the media by alleging they had exaggerated the figure in reporting that 182 DAP members were resigning from the party in Malacca.
“We feel that Lim’s statement has disrespected the media’s professional conduct and its freedom,” MJA chairman Choong Kion Sin said yesterday.
“Should Lim have doubts on the exact figure of those who have resigned, then as a party secretary-general, he should have sought confirmation from his party committee to verify this instead of lashing at the media who covered the press conference on the mass resignation,” Choong said.
On March 12, a group of DAP members in Malacca held a press conference to say that 182 of them were resigning from the party. They were led by led by former state vice-chairman Liou Chen Kuang at the Kota Melaka service centre in Kota Laksamana.
The press conference was covered by various local media outlets.
The announcement had come on the heels of Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him and state assembly members Goh Leong San (Duyong), Lim Jak Wong (Bachang) and Chin Choong Seong (Kesidang) quitting DAP on Feb 12.
Lim commented on March 13 that photographs during the announcement appeared to show only about 20 people.
“Twenty can be made into 182 in the Barisan Nasional media,” he had told reporters in the Parliament lobby.
The CM’s office said the reference was to companies owned by BN and its component parties, naming examples like Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, The Star, Harian Metro and Berita Harian.
The MJA comprises journalists from the English and Chinese media.
Further to the defence of Lim, the CM’s office said that he had a good relationship with the Chinese media and their journalists, before he moved to Penang for the 2008 general election.
“As such, DAP is puzzled by the statement from the Malacca Journalists Association,” the statement said.