Stop attacking my family, says Guan Eng

(FMT) – Embattled DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, facing charges of corruption and money laundering, has warned his political enemies to stop their actions against his family.

“If you want to attack me, that’s up to you. But don’t be a coward and attack my family,” he said in a statement two days after he had been charged in court and his wife arrested to face separate charges.

At the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Friday, Lim was accused of soliciting a bribe over the multi-billion Penang undersea tunnel project while he was chief minister of Penang. He pleaded not guilty. His wife, Betty Chew, was arrested the same day and is to be charged with money laundering on Tuesday.

Lim said today his family had already gone through a lot throughout his years as a politician, during which he was once detained under the Internal Security Act, and later jailed on a sedition charge over an article about a Malacca politician’s alleged affair with an underage girl.

He said an Umno blogger had in March falsely alleged that Lim’s son had been accused of smuggling RM2 million into Singapore without declaring it. Investigation papers on the false claim had been sent to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, yet no action had been taken, he said. The same blogger had alleged in 2011 that his son, then 15 years old, had sexually harassed a classmate.

“Before this I felt I failed because I could not defend my son. Now I cannot do anything to defend my wife from baseless accusations,” said Lim.