GEORGE TOWN, Oct 27 — DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng said today he will sue Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman for his accusations that Lim had turned the Ministry of Finance into a Chinese temple when he was the finance minister.
Lim said he has instructed his lawyer to issue a letter to the controversial Umno leader for his alleged slanderous comments during a live interview with Sinar Harian recently.
“I have to take action to sue him for defamation because what he said is defamatory so I am not only claiming for an apology, maybe for more than that, but because the slander was on a national platform,” he said in a press conference at the Penang DAP headquarters here.
He said he had considered lodging a police report, but explained he is not confident that the police will even investigate the matter.
In a live interview session, Tajuddin claimed that during the Pakatan Harapan administration, the Ministry of Finance office was decorated with lanterns like a Chinese temple and that some of the staff even went to work wearing shorts.
Tajuddin's false claims were not challenged by anyone in the show.
Lim also denied that there were staff who wore shorts to work.
“We only put up lanterns during the Chinese New Year, just like we put up ketupat decorations during Hari Raya and kolam during Deepavali,” he said.
He stressed that the decorations were only for festive seasons and were not permanent features.
He expressed his regret that once again, racial and religious issues were used during this 15th general election period.
“We should be focusing on the economy and the drop in the value of the ringgit that affected the people’s livelihood and costs of living,” he said.
He accused Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) leaders like Tajuddin and Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang of continuing to play the racial and religious card to try to sway voters.
Hadi has stepped up his attacks against PH in the run-up to the election, going as far as to label PH of harbouring iblis, or the leader of devils in Islamic teachings, and accusing DAP of being pro-communist.
“We have to move forward and away from racial and religious extremism but focus instead on the economy and the future of our people,” he said.
He said about 51 per cent of the registered voters in the country are below 40 years of age.
“I hope these young voters will vote for their future and for the economy instead of being swayed by such racist rhetoric,” he said.
He said BN and PN wanted to make it seem as if racial and religious issues are important when the economy, the value of the ringgit and the costs of living in the country are more important.
“The people’s religious believes are not under threat now, their livelihood and future are under threat especially with the ringgit value decreasing against the US dollar,” he said.
