Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia is in hot soup yet again. This time for a July 12 report saying Nur Fitriah Abdul Halim's appointment as a Penang local councillor was a gift to her father from Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Among others, the article, written by Lokman Ismail, said an Umno blogger asked and wanted answers to whether this appointment of the daughter of former state assembly speaker Abdul Halim Hussein was a "gift" from Lim.

The online article is no longer accessible, with the page saying ‘Broken Link'.

NONEMalaysiakini has verified that Nur Fitriah is not former speaker Halim's daughter. Halim (left) has filed a RM1.5 million defamation suit against the newspaper, the writer Lokman and editor Mohd Hassan Mohd Noor.

Halim in his statement of claim says: "By the said words, the defendants mean and were understood to have meant that I am a hypocrite, dishonest and a sycophant.

"That I sought favours from the chief minister, that I was a low character seeking favours from the authorities and that I was prepared to sell my soul for monetary gains and that I had only personal interest and not that of the rakyat."

'No response to demand for apology'

Halim said he sent a letter of demand to Utusan six weeks ago, seeking an apology but no action on the matter has been forthcoming.

He said Utusan should not stoop so low as not to verify whether Nur Fitriah was his daughter before publishing the report.

The newspaper, he added, should return to its original, noble cause, when it was an independent voice during the country's pre-independence era.

Nur Fitriah was appointed a Penang municipal councillor after the 13th general election.

Her appointment courted some controversy as she was given the post despite not being recommended by her fellow party members.

Lim's critics described him as a "dictator" for allowing the appointment and Penang DAP chief Chow Kon Yeow had said then that the appointment of councillors was the prerogative of the state government and the chief minister.