Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has described a doctored photograph of him slaughtering a cow for consumption by the Muslim community as "another vicious attempt of desperados" wanting to destroy his image.

Questioned about the picture, which is being widely-circulated on the NONE Internet, Lim ( right ) said the people behind the photograph, said to be uploaded by a person going by the moniker "PAS monyet", have no moral scruples and were bankrupt of ideas.

He described his detractors as "serial liars" who were using techniques designed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to psychologically prepare Germans for aggressive war and the annihilation of civilian populations.

"But they've done it so many times that many Malaysians do not believe their lies anymore," Lim told Malaysiakini, without referring to anyone specific.

"However, we cannot say that not all people believe such lies and propaganda, because there may be some people who will believe them, anyway," he added.

On Tuesday, the doctored photograph of Lim in the act of slaughtering a cow was brought up by Federal Territory PAS Youth chief Herman Samsudeen.

Herman said an Umno cybertrooper going by the moniker "PAS Beruk (monkey)" designed the image and circulated it via the Internet.

The image carried the tagline "Are we willing to see things become like this? What excuse is there to justify DAP's action?"

lim guan eng slaughters cow 310810 lim guang eng nizar jamaluddin Herman produced the real photo beside the fake one, and said that the actual person slaughtering the cow was former Perak Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin, who is from PAS.

He blamed rival party Umno for the continuous use of "malicious tactics" to destroy the image of PAS and Pakatan Rakyat. However, he did not provide evidence that the photograph was indeed circulated by Umno.

A slew of allegations accusing the DAP and its leaders of insulting the Islamic religion have surfaced in recent weeks, with the latest target being attacks against the party's MP for Serdang, Teo Nie Ching, for her attendance at a pre-breaking-of-fast event at the Al-Huda surau in Kajang.

'Agenda gainst me and the DAP'

Teo's visit to the surau on Aug 22 raised a storm among Umno figures, and was heavily criticised by the party-owned newspaper, Utusan Malaysia , and other Malay language dailies as an insult to Muslims because her presence and actions were "improper".

Earlier, Lim, who is also DAP national secretary-general, was embrolied in another row that has been described as "an agenda against me and the DAP" when he was accused of ordering his name to to be used in the Friday sermons at mosques in Penang, instead of the King's. Lim has vehemently denied the claim.

Appearing very upset over the cow slaughtering photograph, Lim said he was fed-up with the continuous "lies and slander" against him by certain quarters.

"When we do good things, they cannot accept them and do not report such events, like handing over RM1,000 to families of the deceased, or the RM500 for civil servants recently," he lamented.

He vowed to get to the bottom of the cow-slaughter issue by asking his officials to probe and determine the source of the malicious photo.

"We view this matter seriously and will see how we can take the necessary action," Lim added.