GE14 | DAP newbie Syerleena Abdul Rashid has not had it easy since she was named the party's Seri Delima candidate replacing lawyer RSN Rayer.

Syerleena, who is a former Penang city councillor, will be the first Malay woman to be fielded in a state seat in Penang under the opposition banner.

Earlier, there were media reports about a circulating WhatsApp message questioning her candidacy.

Yesterday, Syerleena lodged a police report over a poster accusing her of wanting to topple the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and install Christianity as the official religion in the state.

"It is clearly a malicious slander and an attempt to undermine me. I do not have to explain in length as the statement is untrue and I have never issued such remarks what more having the intention to do it.

"It is a politically-motivated move with the intention to attack me as a candidate here," she said.

Syerleena has lodged three police reports over similar posters in the past year, yet there has been no action from the police.

She called such tactics meaningless and insulting to those who believe in them.

"I believe Penangites, regardless of race and religion, are intelligent and will not swallow such slander as they can judge for themselves what is true or false," said the DAP's national publicity assistant secretary.

Seri Delima falls under the Jelutong parliament seat, which had 23,841 voters in 2013. Of that figure, 23 percent are Malays, 66 percent Chinese, 11 percent Indians, and one percent others. 

Syerleena will be facing off against MCA's Khoo Kay Teong in a battle that will culminate on May 9, polling day. Nomination day is tomorrow.

'Seditious' banner against Rayer

In a similar development, Rayer also lodged a police report today over a banner in Dato Keramat, which said he was not welcomed in Jelutong.

The banner, which was reportedly found displayed around the Sheikh Eusoff mosque read "You are not welcomed to Melayu celaka village - get lost."

According to Rayer, the banner carried a photo of Jelutong Youth chief Jasmin Noordin.

"The banner carries seditious content and can be considered fake news because I have never said such words as contained in the banner," Rayer said.

Rayer expressed concern over his and his family's safety, saying that the message in the banner is a form of racial provocation against him.

"It is very dangerous and can threaten the peace and harmony of our multiracial society," he added.

In 2016, the Sessions Court in Penang acquitted Rayer of his sedition charge on the controversial “celaka Umno” remark he uttered inside the state legislative assembly.

The court found that Rayer's remarks against Umno were not seditious.

The offending word created a ruckus when pro-Umno supporters barged into the state assembly in May 2014, demanding that Rayer apologise and withdraw his statement, which they claimed was an insult to the Malay Muslim community.