He said the party will take action against those who refuse to listen or ignore the warning.

“The party makes the final decision on posts and election candidates. Therefore, leave all public statements to the top national leadership, especially party secretary-general Loke Siew Fook.

“This will prevent our political opponents from manipulating any remarks in the run-up to the state elections,” he said in a statement today.

Lim said he felt compelled to release a statement after an online news portal published a report about the Penang DAP leadership and a few of its assemblymen.

He said the news portal retracted the report and apologised after realising it could not stand up to “factual scrutiny” and that its report was “baseless”.

Six states – Pakatan Harapan-controlled Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang as well as PAS-led Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah – will hold elections after June.