Guan Eng sues Malacca deputy speaker over FB post
- Updated to include Ghazale's response.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng is suing the deputy speaker of Malacca state legislative assembly, Ghazale Muhamad over the latter's Facebook post accusing Lim of having hired 30 special officers when he became a cabinet minister.
Kota Melaka DAP MP Khoo Poay Tiong in a statement today said the former finance minister has issued a letter of demand to Ghazale, who is Umno state assemblyperson for Rim...
- Updated to include Ghazale's response.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng is suing the deputy speaker of Malacca state legislative assembly, Ghazale Muhamad over the latter's Facebook post accusing Lim of having hired 30 special officers when he became a cabinet minister.
Kota Melaka DAP MP Khoo Poay Tiong in a statement today said the former finance minister has issued a letter of demand to Ghazale, who is Umno state assemblyperson for Rim.
According to Ghazale's Facebook post on Aug 11, he had accused Lim of having allegedly handpicked and appointed a team of 30 special officers to the Finance Ministry, all of whom purportedly were Chinese youths aged between 20 and 30.
He also claimed that the special officers were led by Lim's political secretary Tony Pua and received monthly pay at the same scale as Jusa-grade civil servants of between RM8,000 and RM15,000.
The Facebook post is still visible to the public as of the time of writing at 3pm today.
Ghazale went on in the same post with more allegations, including claiming that Lim had appointed the officers with the special aim of scrutinising cases involving Umno figures, managing the ministry’s assets and to draft a budget that favours the Chinese.
"The Facebook post goes on to make racist statements against Lim and accused him of selling away the country’s assets.
"Ghazale’s statement is utterly false and slanderous. It is nothing but a typical attempt to paint Lim and the DAP as the villain," Khoo said in his statement.
The suit against Ghazale came two months after the politician issued an apology to another DAP leader, Teo Nie Ching after he allegedly reposted fake news against the Kulai MP.
The fake posting alleged Teo of calling for citizenship to be approved for children from other countries in order to balance the number of bumiputeras and the non-bumiputeras in the country.
Ghazale had made the apology after Teo initiated legal action against him over the post.
"Ghazale has clearly not learned his lesson as he continues his habit of spreading lies with the latest statement against Lim.
"These cases show that Ghazale is a serial liar and peddler of fake news. Such behaviour is unacceptable for a deputy speaker of a state assembly, who should be ethical, righteous, and unbiased in his conduct.
"Ghazale should withdraw his false statement immediately and issue an apology to Lim. However, the people should not forget his record as a peddler of fake news with regards to these cases," said Khoo.
Meanwhile, Ghazale, when contacted, confirmed to have received the letter of demand but claims that his Facebook account might have been hacked.
He said he was puzzled on how the statement came onto his Facebook wall, claiming that he does not remember writing it.
Saying that his Facebook account could have been compromised, Ghazale claimed that he does not recognise the style of writing nor the issue being said about Lim.
"The Facebook post is quite odd to me. I don't usually write like that. I usually use my Facebook to update about my activities, and those who are used to my postings would know that I only write short statements of between one or two paragraphs, not a lengthy post like this one. It’s not my style of writing.
"Another thing is that the issue (in the Facebook post), I have only heard about it today. If it was something that I had discussed previously, I would surely remember what the issues that I wanted to highlight.
"But this is something new to me," Ghazale claimed.
Asked about what happened with Teo, the politician admitted having posted the statement concerning the former deputy education minister.
Ghazale said he has asked his lawyer to check on this matter, after which he would discuss with the lawyer on their next course of action.
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