Media statement by Lim Guan Eng in Komtar, George Town on Thursday, 29^th March 2012: 

I will take defamatory court action to prevent UMNO, Utusan Malaysia and others BN papers from playing with fire 

I will not comment on Penang UMNO Youth's repeated lies but will take defamatory court action to prevent UMNO, Utusan Malaysia and others BN papers from playing with fire by stoking racial and religious sentiments to undermine the PR Penang state government. I had tried to be patient when UMNO uses racial and religious rhetoric to undermine my leadership of Penang and the PR state government. But such dangerous and religious political games have crossed the limit with lies by Penang UMNO Youth chief Shaik Hussein Mydin that I have sold off mosque land.

Utusan Malaysia has even printed vulgar and defamatory words attacking me with the lie that I have sold off mosque land. This is not the first time that UMNO has made defamatory allegations against me. Before that Shaik Hussein together with other UMNO leaders had attacked me with lies that I did not sell 102.6 acres of Bayan Mutiara land by open tender. He had continued with such lies even though the Penang state government and the developer had shown proof that the land was sold by open tender.

Shaik then continued with his lies that I had said that I did not need the support of Indians. When his lie was exposed, Shaik not only refused to apologise as promised but changed to another lie that I have caused mosque land to disappear. This time, the lie is explosive because it touches on religious sentiments and designed to create hatred amongst Muslims against me as a non-Muslim leader.

When the 102.3 acres of Bayan Mutiara land was sold by open tender, there was no sub-division of title but the entire piece is to be sold. The developer will only do sub-division of title after submission of new plans to MPPP for approval. The new plans and sub-division of title has not even been submitted, how can UMNO claim that the mosque or school land has been sold or disappeared? UMNO must remember that there are standard requirements for school and places of religious places of worship including surau or mosque that are compulsory by local government or must be included in any development project.

UMNO can only say that the mosque or school land has been sold or disappeared if the new plans by the developer are approved by MPPP without any mosque land or school land. As a people-centric government, PR Penang has consistently held on to our fundamental principle of NOT allowing any land that has been allocated or marked for school, places of religious worship, mosque, suraus, churches, Chinese, Hindu or Buddhist temples to disappear.

By consistently telling lies and even stoking racial and religious tension, UMNO is creating racial and religious hatred against me as Chief Minister and the PR state government. Creating hatred against a non-Malay and non-Muslim based on lies shows that 1 Malaysia is an empty slogan designed to deceive the people to vote in the coming general elections for race-based extremist parties in BN.

*Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister