Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's aide Zaidi Ahmad lodged a police report today on a fake WhatsApp message accusing Lim of saying that Pakatan Harapan would shut down Mara.

Zaidi lodged the police report at the Northeast district police headquarters on Jalan Pattani in Penang this morning.

He said he received the message at 5.58am on Jan 1, which showed a photo of Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, with the message "Pakatan akan tutup Mara. Kita akan tutup segala entiti berkait dengan Mara selagi ia tidak terbuka untuk semua kaum. Itu janji saya untuk kerajaan di bawah Pakatan” (We will shut down all entities related to Mara as long as they are not open to all races. This is my promise for governments under Pakatan).

According to Zaidi, the message was sent through a WhatsApp group called "Bersatu Lwn Kezaliman"(United, we fight against cruelty), by an individual who went by the name Mizan Johor.

"He (the sender) uses two mobile numbers, and the message is criminal defamation against the CM by this individual and other parties who spread this message," Zaidi told reporters after lodging the report.

Formed on March 1, 1966, Mara or Majlis Amanah Rakyat is a federal government agency formed to aid and train the bumiputera in business and industry.

Zaidi said Lim had never issued such a statement pertaining to Mara, nor had he, at any time, instructed anyone else to spread such a message on his behalf.

He called on the police to immediately investigate the matter and apprehend those behind the spreading of the fake message and charge them with criminal defamation, as such a message is "inappropriate for a multiracial and multi-religious country like Malaysia".

Lim fell victim to a similar controversy about three weeks ago when he was accused of purportedly backing the massacre of Rohingyas in Myanmar and allegedly saying that Malaysia had no right to intervene in Myanmar's business.