Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng hit out at the federal government - the home ministry in particular - for practicing double standards for going after newspapers which have reported the truth while praising those distorting facts and advocating lies.

Visibly upset by the minister's show cause letters to English tabloid theSun and Chinese vernacular Sin Chiew Daily , the Penang chief minister said it was imperative the ministry publicly explain and justify its move.

The DAP secretary general declined to comment on the show cause PKR-run Suara Keadilan received.

Speaking to the media in Georgetown today, he asked for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the show cause letters, and wondered why newspapers disseminating lies did not face the same predicament.

lim guan eng vs koh tsu koon penang 080808 03 He cited national language daily Utusan Malaysia as a fine example of a newspaper that embarked on spreading lies and distorting facts such as reports of his alleged statement on the New Economy Policy and Teresa Kok's alleged complaint of Islamic prayer calls.

Lim's NEP statement was allegedly blown out of proportion by Utusan Malaysia , which resulted in Penang Umno members under state secretary Azhar Ibrahim staging a protest on Mar 14.

Even DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh's official address at the recent national DAP delegates conference was distorted by Utusan Malaysia into a racist statement questioning Islam's official status in the country, Lim argued.

The daily later apologised openly to Karpal for its faulty report.

Why is Utusan not issued a show cause or publishing permit revoked for inciting racial hatred and conflict, Lim queried.

"At one side the government takes punitive action on newspapers reporting the truthful facts, while on the other hand, it rewards and awards newspapers that distort facts, fabricate stories and tell lies," he said.

Sin Chiew Daily was told to show cause apparently for playing up the recent Ahmad Ismail inflammatory remarks against Chinese Malaysians.

"If Sin Chiew was wrong in reporting Ahmad's racist attack, why did then deputy premier Najib Abdul Razak apologise to the Chinese community?

"Why would Umno suspend Ahmad then?"

Open society

Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran - talking about the show cause letters - said the government's action does not run parallel with globalisation, creating a more open society with freer media.

"Using the law to curb easy flow of information to revive a weakening position would not help the government much.

"The more open the government is, the better off the country would be," he told Malaysiakini.

Anti-ISA Movement (GMI) chairperson Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh views the show cause letters as a scare tactic to instill fear and compel media to ‘toe the line'.

"Even if their publishing permits were not revoked, they would only be allowed to operate with strong hidden conditions," he told Malaysiakini.