Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has issued letters of demand to Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi and Utusan Malaysia over a report in the Sept 7 issue of the Malay daily related to the movie ‘Tanda Putera'.

In his letter, Lim's lawyers Karpal Singh & Co said Puad "falsely and maliciously" stated in the report headlined "Cuba sembunyi kebiadapan DAP" that he (Lim) tried to prevent the movie from being screened in Penang because "he wants to hide the rude scene of a DAP leader".

NONE Puad ( left ) had then said Lim's action to stop the screening of the movie was merely to hide the insolence of DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang for urinating in front of the house of then Selangor menteri besar Harun Idris during the May 13, 1969, race riots.

"You (Puad and Utusan ) have recklessly, falsely and maliciously, in complete disregard for the truth amounting to irresponsible journalism of the worst kind, without verifying the truth of the allegations against our client in the impugned words, and in willful blindness, published the said words," says the letter from Karpal Singh & Co.

It said those words had caused Lim's reputation "serious and irreparable damage".

As for the aggravated and exemplary compensation sought by Lim, lawyer and Dato Keramat assemblyperson Jagdeep Singh said it would be left to the court.

Meanwhile, Lim said he would appear in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Sept 18 to enter his defence against an injunction filed against the party by Ladang Paroi branch deputy chairperson A David Dass to stop the re-election.

Dass had filed the injunction in Kuala Lumpur, saying the re-election was against the party’s constitution.

Lim would be represented by lawyer and DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh.

Inter-parte session

Explaining the issue, Jagdeep said the court would conduct an inter-parte session for Lim and Dass to be present in court to provide their statements.

Meanwhile, in a blog post, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said that even former Special Branch deputy director Yuen Yuet Leong has no recollection of anyone urinating on any flagpole, sparking the riots.

Kit Siang claimed that this was relayed to him when he had asked Yuen about it on the phone earlier today.

“Yuen not only confirmed that the May 13, 1969 ‘urination’ incident at the Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence was totally fictional, he rightly remarked that if there was any such a person who committed such an outrageous act, he would not have left the Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence alive!”