“Guan Eng once told a state assembly sitting that the motion to bar Utusan was due to its preponderance in publishing slanderous news against the state government” – RJ Rithaudeen
Following is an editorial adapted from NST Online complete with responses by TTF (in blue):
GEORGE TOWN: Lim was also asked to clarify that he had barred certain newspapers during his time in office, after he was not given the right to reply.
He explained that it was a decision made by the former Pakatan Rakyat coalition at the time, but was never implemented by him.
TTF: This is a lie.
On the 10th of May 2011, Guan Eng told a Penang State Assembly sitting, under oath, that the assembly had barred Utusan Malaysia from covering its proceedings with immediate effect.
When asked about it, he clarified that a motion to bar the paper was due to its preponderance “in publishing slanderous news against the state government.”
Then, on the 14th of October 2014, Anthony Loke Siew Fook helped him do a U-turn by denying that the Penang government ever banned Utusan.
In clarifying, Loke said that although the state did not invite any reporter from Utusan, it never stopped anyone from covering state assembly sittings.
“We wish to say that although we did not invite any reporter from Utusan Malaysia, we have never barred any reporter from doing his job,” he told a press conference.
But that’s arguably as good as telling the paper that “you’re not invited, so don’t come.”
Notwithstanding, Guan Eng’s claim of never having barred newspapers during his time in office is clealy a lie an a possible attempt by him to subvert court proceedings.
NST Online continued…
Lim also went on to state that he stopped talking to the press, especially directly, after he was accused of interfering in Sin Chew Daily’s operation when he sought the newspaper to correct a headline of his article.
“After that, if I felt that I had been wronged to the extreme, I would file a suit, otherwise, I would just swallow and take it whatever (news about me).
TTF: This is yet another lie.
Lim Guan Eng has never been the sort of person to “just swallow” news about him and has triggered multiple lawsuits against several media channels, the most notable among them being Utusan.
We have the 5th March 2019 case in which New Straits Times Press (NSTP) and Utusan Melayu (M) Sdn Bhd was forced to pay damages totalling RM400,000 for labelling him a ‘Singapore agent’, the 4th November 2018 High Court ruling that forced Utusan to pay him RM30,000 in damages over the publication of a defamatory article in 2015, and the 15th of March 2017 settlement between him and Utusan, to name just a few.
In most cases, he won.
Adapted from:
