Media statement by Tony Pua Kiam Wee in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 23^rd October 2011:

Datuk Seri Najib Razak must reprimand his Deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for giving implicit support to the UMNO bloggers to defame and destroy an innocent 16 year old child

We are shocked and appalled by by the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who reportedly said that if the Penang chief minister "thinks it is important to correct the information, then he has to come up with a strong statement. Mere denial is not enough."

Tan Sri Muhyiddin was commenting on the case where Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng's 16 year old son was accused of sexual harassment by a plethora of UMNO bloggers which resulted in him being transferred to another school this year.

The Deputy Prime Minister needs to have his head seriously inspected - not only did Lim strongly denied the above incident in the strongest possible terms by calling the allegations by the UMNO bloggers "barbaric lies", we have proven that the case is entirely fictitious when the alleged victim is a 21 year old university student in the United States from Hong Kong who never went to school in Penang.

The alleged victim has even sent a statement to all press, stating clearly that she has not been to Malaysia for the past 7 years, and "the only way in which my 'modesty was outraged' has been the publication of my picture in connection with these scurrilous and unfounded rumours."

The principal of SMK Heng Ee, where Lim's son was studying until the end of last year, Mr Goh Boon Poh has also come out to state that he was shocked by the allegations that Lim Guan Eng's son had sexually harassed a female student of the school, and it is "completely untrue."

Despite Lim having nothing else to prove, Tan Sri Muhyiddin has chosen to lend credence to the despicable rumours and give support implicit to the UMNO bloggers by stating that "mere denial is not enough".

Instead of taking stern action against those perpetrating the evil lies to humiliate the Penang Chief Minister's family, especially since they are all UMNO leaders and members, Tan Sri Muhyiddin has chosen to defend the indefensible. The onus to prove the scurrilous allegations are on the accusers, and not those unjustly maligned.

To protect the image of the Government, the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak must immediately put a stop to this madness by sternly reprimanding his Deputy and all his members from making further unfounded claims against an innocent 16 year old boy. Otherwise, it'll prove to all Malaysians that UMNO has become morally bankrupt in its pursuit to hold on power at all cost, including attacking innocent children.

* Tony Pua Kiam Wee, DAP National Publicity Secretary & MP for Petaling Jaya Utara