KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng today defended the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) over reports that it had banned the swimsuit segment of the Miss Astro Chinese International Pageant 2019 (MACIP).

Lim said the reports in Chinese newspapers blaming DBKL was inaccurate and instead claimed that it was the police who had banned the swimsuit segment in MACIP.

"I was informed by the Sentul police chief, ACP S.Shanmugamoorthy, that he decided to set a condition that there should not be a swimsuit segment in MACIP,” he said in a statement.

He stressed that DBKL had given the necessary approvals to Astro to organise the beauty pageant and that the approvals did not contain any conditions regarding the swimsuit segment.

He said all public assembly licenses issued by DBKL are subjected to additional screening by the police and since MACIP was held at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre, it was under the Sentul district police headquarters' jurisdiction.

"I do not agree with the new condition set by the Sentul police chief as it was rather trivial and unnecessary since the MACIP event is broadcasted in Chinese language and it has been held for over 20 years without any issues before this,” he said.

He said Astro had only submitted its application to the police less than five days before the event on December 21.

"If Astro had complied with the requirements to submit its application for approval from the police 10 days before the event, representatives in Kuala Lumpur like myself will have more time to assist them in handling this issue,” he said.

It was reported in the Chinese newspapers that the swimsuit segment of MACIP was cancelled after Astro allegedly received a letter from DBKL prohibiting the segment a day before the event.