Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Aziz came under fire from DAP for saying that action will be taken against malaysiakini for its April Fool's prank. The opposition party said that the minister was being discriminative.

In a statement, party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng urged Nazri to "behave consistently by also taking action against (Barisan Nasional) BN-controlled newspapers that consistently tell lies about opposition parties, especially during the general elections".

" Malaysiakini had openly reported in an accompanying piece that the article, which 'claimed' three ministers and one menteri besar would be charged with corruption, was an April Fool's prank.

"(Doing) this was much better that BN-controlled newspapers, that to date, still refuse to admit serial lies against opposition parties.

"Should Nazri be suddenly infused with a moral wakening of truth, he then ought not practise double-standards and take action against all newspapers who tell 'lies'," he said.

Yesterday, the minister told the Dewan Rakyat that the online news agency will face the music over the report but did not specify what form of action will be taken.

He also hinted that the matter now laid in the hands of Energy, Water and Communications Minister Dr Lim Keng Yaik.

No 'moral authority'

Responding, the DAP secretary-general said Keng Yaik has "neither the credibility to uphold truth nor the moral authority to punish malaysiakini when he lied (in) his earlier promise that TNB (Tenaga Nasional Berhad) should pay compensation for the Jan 13 blackout " but made an about turn later.

The major blackout, which lasted more than five hours in some areas, hit several states in Peninsular Malaysia, resulting in huge losses.

"On the day of the blackout the minister stated (as reported in Chinese newspapers) that consumers could claim compensation from TNB.

"He repeated it after a cabinet meeting on Jan 27 saying that TNB has to bear full responsibility irrespective of whether the power failure was caused by a technical fault or human error.

"Subsequently TNB repudiated his (statement), disclaiming liability because the outage was less than four hours," said Lim.

In view of this, the DAP leader said Keng Yaik should not be given the task of reprimanding malaysiakini .

"To date the minister has not explained why he lied or whether he was joking and pulling a premature April Fool's prank of his own.

"To expect a liar to be an arbiter of truth makes a mockery of the saying those who live in glass houses should not throw stones," he added.

Lim further urged the government to take heed of the news-agency's prank to improve the ineffectiveness of the country's weakened anti-corruption drive.

The April Fool's prank had caused a stir and Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail was reported to be furious over the prank, calling for action against malaysiakini .

However, he later said that his statement was misquoted by the media.

Malaysiakini had defended its move stating that it was meant to stir a debate on the issue of corruption.