Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is offended again at MCA-owned English daily The Star for publishing what he described as “a lie” about his sister’s interest in contesting a seat in the coming general election.

“This is a complete lie by The Star . They picked it up from some blogs. I have checked with state DAP chief Chow Kon Yeow and my sister, Hui Ying, about the matter,” the DAP secretary-general said in a press conference today.

“Chow has refuted the rumours yesterday and my sister says she has no interest in contesting and yet The Star has put it as a headline,” he lamented.

“If she was interested in contesting, she would have contested in the past three elections. There was no interest then and there is no interest for her now to contest,” he stressed.

“We hope The Star would stop making up such lies. I can only ask the public not to believe what The Star says.”

Lim was referring to the daily’s page 22 report headlined ‘Guan Eng’s sister may join the fray - she is likely to be fielded in the general election’.

The report comes right after Chow’s denial that Hui Ying would be contesting or that Sungai Puyu assemblyperson Phee Boon Poh would be withdrawing from the race.

He had told reporters that the Penang DAP has 45 interested candidates on its list but will shotlist them after Parliament is dissolved, most likely after the Chinese New Year.

Lim said he had given up on other newspapers like Umno-linked Utusan Malaysia and the New Straits Times ( NST ) who continue to publish ‘lies’ about Pakatan Rakyat, noting that he had sued the Malay newspaper twice and won.

He added that The Star has now joined the ranks of those who are fond of “slander”.

The Star fell out with Lim when they went to town with his comment about the word ‘Penang’ , where he was heavily criticised for allegedly wanting to monopolise the word.

Lim, however, explained that he wanted private organisers to consult the state government if they planned to use the name as it might confuse the public into believing that the state government was organising the event.

Lim urged the newspapers not to treat his sister in this manner, wondering aloud if they would now focus on his brother, who is currently serving as a doctor in a local private hospital.

“If my son were 21 years old, I am sure they will also talk about him. I don’t think this is right.”