Exasperated Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy will be issuing a letter of demand to national daily The Star , demanding a retraction and apology over an article he claims “was doctored”.

If the MCA-owned newspaper fails to satisfactorily respond to his demands within seven days, Ramasamy, who is also the DAP deputy secretary-general, said that he will not hesitate to commence legal proceedings.

NONE Ramasamy ( left ) was referring to the article titled ‘Distress in DAP continues’ published on Dec 23, in which he said the contents “were heavily doctored by editors”.

“This will be established later but what was written and what was published are two different things,” he told reporters at a hastily organised press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

In the problematic Dec 23 article, Ramasamy had allegedly said that there was a plot to oust him because he did not heed requests for projects and favours from the party grassroots.

“They are now conspiring to invoke a grand design to oust me,” Ramasamy was quoted as saying.

Yesterday, Ramasamy held a press conference where he denied having said anything of that nature, adding that the report was “baseless and frivolous”.

'Irreparable damage'

However, after seeing a rebuttal by The Star and its journalist, below an article on his denial today, the aggrieved Ramasamy said decided to resolve the matter legally as it had “caused irreparable damage” to the party and its leaders.

His lawyer, A Sivanesan, added that they would have decided not to pursue the matter further if the daily had published Ramasamy’s denial alone.

“It gives an impression that internal problems in the DAP are not over and that they are simmering.

“We had the press conference where I denied the allegations in the article and I wanted to see The Star ’s reaction and obviously The Star has not reacted and neither have they apologised.

“The interview I gave on (Dec 21) was more about moving Penang forward and problems within the Indian community.

“Today The Star says that I agreed to the interview to discuss allegations against me, that’s a lie,” he rebuked, adding that the pretext of the interview was “false”.

He pointed out that the contents of the article was “more than a problem of misquoting” but an “attempt at entrapment”.

For honour and dignity

He added that he would not have granted the interview if the reporters, including two from an online news portal, had wanted to speak on the allegations of poor governance.

“What I find, the motive of the article is to create further dissension in the DAP, to pit one leader against another leader, in light of the coming elections.

“If I had known they would use the (interview) to do this, I wouldn’t have granted them the interview,” he reiterated, calling the article “blatant abuse” of journalism.

“I’m left with no option, the last thing DAP wants to do is to sue a newspaper. We believe in the freedom of the press, we believe in democracy and justice and we don’t want to muzzle any press,” said Ramasamy.

But the national press deliberately undertakes a mission to create this problem and dissension in DAP and a rift between the leaders, is mischievous and totally uncalled for, he said.

Ramasamy added that The Star is now akin to Umno-linked Utusan Malaysia in “going on a rampage against DAP leaders”.

He insisted that he is not interested in monetary compensation but it is more of a matter of “honour and dignity”.