Guan Eng, don’t just sit there and talk cock. Sue if you’re innocent!
The Third Force
So, it happened.
After weeks of speculation, Penang Chief Minister (CM) Lim Guan Eng was finally produced at the state High Court by authorities for alleged acts of criminal impropriety, which many insist is the cut-and-dry result of a leadership gone wrong.
On Thursday, the embattled CM pleaded not guilty to charges of purchasing a bungalow below its market worth and his involvement in manipulating the use of land to obtain gratification. Guan Eng was released immediately after the state DAP helped him post the bail of RM1 million as it was granted by the court, with one surety.
For the first charge, Guan Eng is faced with Section 165 of the Penal Code, which applies to a public servant accused of obtaining something of value from another person who is involved in a proceeding or a business transaction with him or her. Under the law, the CM is liable to be jailed for a period of up to two years or fined, or both, if convicted.
On the second charge, the CM faces Section 23 of the Anti-Corruption Act, which relates to an offence using office or position for gratification. If convicted, the CM is liable to be jailed for a maximum term of 20 years and fined not less than five times the amount involved or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
Upon his release, Guan Eng told a press conference – twice – that the two charges against him were a travesty of justice. The CM was accompanied by his father and several DAP leaders when he charged the government of engaging in a partisan witchhunt.
“BN can prosecute me but I will not kill my passion to free Malaysia from corruption. BN can victimise me but will not crush my spirit to free Malaysia from those who steal our children’s future,” he said.
Much of what he said was of a tone and flavour to what his father, Lim Kit Siang, had said the night before. In a bizarre speech he made out to a crowd of 300 odd onlookers, the senior Lim implied that Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak had embezzled RM55 billion (up RM13 billion from previous allegations) worth of funds from 1MDB and channelled up to RM 4.2 billion (up RM 2.6 billion from previous allegations) from the investment firm into his personal account.
According to Guan Eng, those who had “billions and billions in their personal account” were let off the hook. In other words, Guan Eng is saying that the government had chosen to prosecute him but not Najib, who he insinuated was a bigger fish than he was. But then, isn’t it typical for DAP leaders to hang politicians and media that are aligned to the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) by the hooks of the law? Remember Teresa Kok?
On the 12th of September in 2008, Kok was arrested under the now defunct Internal Security Act (ISA) for allegedly petitioning a mosque to reduce its volume for the Azan (call for prayer). Kok was deemed a potential threat to national security in the manner she had stirred controversy, which many regarded was seditious and an incitement towards unrest.
When met by reporters some days later, Kok told the Malay daily Utusan Melayu to “Bring it on!” in response to a call by certain non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) for the daily to sue her. The call by the NGO’s was spawned off Kok’s relentless attacks against the paper for reporting that she had ‘advised’ a mosque in Puchong not to use loudspeakers while making the call for prayer, an allegation she unequivocally denied.
On the 19th of that month, the Seputeh Member of Parliament (MP) stirred up a hornets’ nest when she allegedly decried the food that was served during her stay under police custody. According to Utusan Melayu, Kok said she would not even feed her dog that food. Infuriated, the Seputeh MP immediately pointed her cannons at the daily for ‘quoting her out of context’. According to her, all she had said was that the food “was slightly better than dog food.”
The back-and-forth between Kok and the Malay daily over her ‘dog food’ remark resulted in a heated public dispute. One thing led to another before Kok filed a 30 million ringgit defamation suit against Utusan Melayu and its columnist, Mohd Zaini Hassan, over an article that related to the Azan controversy. In February the following year, the paper filed a countersuit against Kok for her defamatory stance in relation to her ‘dog food’ remark.
Then, in the most bizarre and curious twist of events, both Utusan Melayu and Kok withdrew the two lawsuits they had against each other along with several other lawsuits and countersuits that were ongoing. On the 22nd of November in 2013, the disputing factions reached a bargain of sorts which Kok described as a “mutually agreed global settlement.”
So why did Kok drop her suit against Utusan Melayu?
It seems that should Kok have refused to drop her suit, the paper would have buried her credibility over the alleged dog food remark, proving once and for all that she was manipulative and had deliberately sued the daily to mislead the public.
But then, Kok had herself come out to admit that she had indeed uttered the ‘dog food’ remark which she initially alleged was the product of distortion by the Malay daily. Following her confession, speculation was rife, especially among journalists, that DAP had committed to train as many of its guns at UMNO linked dailies by distorting the truth and triggering lawsuits to bankrupt and shut them down.
All said, Kok is not the only DAP leader to have sued Utusan Melayu. As a matter of fact, Guan Eng himself had sued the daily on more than one occasion.
For instance, on the 22nd of June in 2011, the paper was ordered by the Penang High Court to pay the CM a total of RM200,000 worth in damages and another RM20,000 in costs to him for having defamed him with an article titled “Tiada Lagi DEB” (No More NEP).
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom following the verdict, Guan Eng iterated that the victory was for truth and for the people who wanted a healthy democracy and responsible journalism.
“I am thankful to God because the truth is finally revealed,” he said, adding that he would donate the monies to charity.
Well, if Guan Eng is all about truth and accountability, then why did he not sue Parti Cinta Malaysia’s Dato’ Huan Cheng Guan and UMNO’s Dato’ Abdul Rahman Dahlan for ‘spewing lies’ about the bungalow-for-land scam controversy? Why did Guan Eng not sue Utusan Melayu for publishing defamatory articles this time around?
Most importantly, if Guan Eng feels strongly that the charges brought against him were politically motivated, then why doesn’t he sue the government? If indeed the government had let Najib off the hook for holding on to “billions and billions in his personal account,” shouldn’t that be incentive enough for the CM to initiate a lawsuit against the Prime Minister and the government?
I mean, isn’t that what the CM has been doing all this while – suing politicians and BN related media for the slightest remark or action he finds to be injurious, misleading, untruthful and all the rest of the mumbo-jumbo that comes along with it? Isn’t that what DAP leaders seem to be all about?
What’s stopping you this time, Guan Eng? Don’t just sit there and talk cock. Sue like you and your comrades in DAP normally do to prove your innocence!!
