Millions of copies of the ruling Barisan Nasional manifesto - launched with great fanfare three days ago - could have run afoul of the election law.

bn barisan nasional election 2008 manifesto The glitzy 24-page manifesto , published in seven languages including Jawi, Iban and Kadazan, has apparently not complied with the law requiring all printed material to carry the names of the printer and publisher.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang argued that all elected BN leaders risk being disqualified should the manifesto is not withdrawn immediately.

According to Lim, the BN manifesto only carried the publisher’s details - Barisan Nasional Headquarters in Putra World Trade Center. However, conspicuously missing are details of the manifesto’s printer.

"If opposition parties are guilty of such an infraction of the law, opposition candidates would have been held to strict accountability,” charged Lim.

bn manifesto publisher address

He said that the current manifesto should be replaced by a new one which carries the identity of the printer as required by law.

“This is again another test as to whether there is one law for the ordinary public but another law for the powers-that-be," said Lim.

PM’s ‘intemperate’ language slammed

Meanwhile, Lim said he felt “very hurt” by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s accusation yesterday that the opposition had been spreading lies to undermine BN’s unity.

dap ipoh ceramah 240208 lim kit siang 2 “I feel strongly the injustice of Abdullah's accusation that DAP leaders and I had told lies about him and BN when I had bent backwards to be fair to him, giving him more time to fulfill his many reform pledges on becoming prime minister over four years ago.”

Lim recalled that he had publicly expressed support for Abdullah to carry out his pledges when he became prime minister to create an “accountable, efficient and incorruptible” government.

“Immediately after the landslide BN victory in the 2004 general election, I was asked in a Malaysiakini interview how long I would give Abdullah to deliver his reform pledges – and I had said I would give him two years and would suspend judgement in the meanwhile.

Two years came and went and Abdullah failed to make any visible progress to deliver his reform pledges, I still withheld any expression of my disappointment as I decided to give him another year.”

Lim said he would not follow Abdullah's example to describe the BN manifesto as one containing “lies and falsehoods”.

However, he pointed out that there were a number of misleading facts in the manifesto.

Lim, who is DAP adviser, is defending his parliament seat of Ipoh Timur against new face Liew Mun Hon from MCA.