Kit Siang mulls suing NST over ‘pure fantasy’ report

The veteran DAP leader says a New Straits Times report that he had met Dr Mahathir Mohamad to broker a deal to be the deputy prime minister if the opposition wins is a figment of the imagination.

(FMT) – Lim Kit Siang, upset with a report in the New Straits Times, has instructed his lawyers to look into the possibility of suing the newspaper.

The DAP parliamentary leader said in a statement that the NST report titled ‘DAP’s ploy to secure DPM post’, was “pure fantasy”.

“Among other things, the NST report said that I met Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Dec 3 and ‘sealed a deal that Mukhriz would become prime minister with Kit Siang as his deputy’,” Lim said.

Mukhriz is deputy president of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, and Mahathir’s son.

“This is (a) total figment of (the) imagination, as I never met Mahathir, whether on Dec 3 or before to ‘seal a deal’ on the question of PM or DPM if Umno/Barisan Nasional is ousted from Putrajaya in the 14th General Election. In fact, I had never at any time discussed such a question with Mahathir,” said the MP for Gelang Patah

He said it was a mark of the times that moral and ethical standards had fallen so low in Malaysia that even in the journalistic world, the maxim “Opinions are free but facts are sacred” had been “totally abandoned” by the NST.

Saying a lot of lies about him and DAP leaders had been circulated on the social media in an anonymous manner, Lim added that any mainstream media that did something similar had to be “taught a lesson”.

The NST had quoted blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin’s claim that Mahathir and Kit Siang had met to discuss the deal.