English daily The Star is in hot water for an opinion piece it published on Pakatan Harapan and the five PKR Penang assemblypersons who abstained from voting out an Umno motion on land reclamation.

Published today, the piece rattled Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who said he is mulling to take legal action against the daily and the writer of the article, regional editor K Suthakar.

“I will ask my lawyers if we can take legal action on the story. The opinion piece is a malicious lie and I will leave it to my lawyers to decide,” Lim said at a press conference at the state Legislative Assembly complex today.

Headlined “Pakatan’s survival hinges on land reclamation motion to be tabled in state assembly”, the article claimed that Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, had warned the PKR assemblymen during a Pakatan Harapan pre-council meeting on Tuesday that his party would go the ‘PAS way’ if the PKR assemblymen abstained during the vote”.

The motion on reclamation was filed by Umno Pulau Betong assemblyperson Muhammad Farid for the second time for this state assembly sitting.

The motion calls on the state government to “cancel (land) reclamation works involving some 4,000 acres at the south of Penang Island and seek alternative financing for the RM27 billion Penang Transport Master Plan.”

A similar motion filed by Farid in November last year rocked the state assembly when it was put to vote and the five PKR assemblypersons abstained from voting against the motion.

The move caused them to be labelled as “back-stabbers” out to stage a coup in PKR Penang, but the representatives vehemently denied the accusation.

'Pressured to toe the line'

They said they abstained from voting due to “conscience and public interest” as the land reclamation would have a great impact on the environment and people’s livelihood.

Two of the representatives - Cheah Kah Peng (Kebun Bunga) and Ong Chin Wen (Bukit Tengah) - were eventually sacked from their director posts in government-linked-companies.

DAP Tanjung Bungah assemblyperson Teh Yee Cheu went further to support the Umno motion, only to withdraw his support 30 minutes later. He also quit his post as state DAP organising secretary.

Yesterday, Malaysiakini reported that the five assemblypersons were “pressured” to toe the line or risked being labelled as responsible for the break-up of Pakatan Harapan.

PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali ordered the five to toe the line as it was important for backbenchers to support state policies.