150,000 flyers to shoot down Umno's lies

The Penang Chief Minister’s Office is stepping up its offensive against Umno by distributing 150,000 flyers to explain the “truth behind the party’s lies and slander” surrounding a plot of mosque land purportedly sold to a private developer.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (right) said today the flyers would be in four languages, but the one in the national language would be distributed first to explain how Umno twisted the issue on the mosque land in Bayan Mutiara.

“These flyers are very important as Umno has been playing up racial issues. These are all lies by Umno as we do not practise favouritism,” Lim told reporters at Komtar today.

“Their allegations are serious, for example, to say that the state government or I have sold a land reserved for a mosque (in Bayan Mutiara).

“Our clarification never sees print in the newspapers but instead the lies (by Umno) are being played up,” he stressed.

State Umno Youth chief Shaik Hussein Mydin has been taunting Lim and the state government over the issue butinsists there is nothing racial or religious about his concerns.

Shaik Hussein has claimed he would raise the same concerns if plots of land for a church or temple are sold off to a private company.

Lim had threatened to take legal action against Shaik Hussein and the latter, unwilling to back down, has vowed to see the chief minister in court.

Muslim community worried

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, said the Muslim community is worried about the issue and has approached him about their concerns.

His Muslim friends have also told him that untoward incidents can happen to him if people actually believed those Umno lies.

He reiterated that his Muslim friends and acquaintances were “shocked” when they learnt the truth about the mosque land.

“It is a great sin to lie about a mosque. We must not play around with issues of religion. What more Islam is our official religion.

“It appears as if Umno is willing to gamble off the security and unity of Penangites for its own political purposes,” he added.

Lim is still sore from being threatened by state Perkasa Youth chief Asudin Rasuan that he will confront the former personally if he does not answer to queries surrounding the mosque issue.

A group of 30 people, including Perkasa members, held a rally in Komtar recently asking Lim to answer queries about the mosque in seven days or they would confront him personally.

“What does wanting to confront me mean? It sounds very violent and very mean,” he said.

At the same press conference, state executive councillor Abdul Malik Abul Kassim defended Lim, saying that Umno has lied about the mosque land.

“Unless the land is gazetted and handed over to the Penang Islamic Affairs Council, it is not considered mosque land,” added the Batu Maung PKR assemblyperson.

Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman (left), who was also at the press conference, expressed his concern over the spat of violent acts targeted at Pakatan Rakyat leaders.

“This shows that gutter and samseng (gangster) political culture has begun,” he said.

Mansor explained that the flyers would address every allegation raised by Umno. For example, how the land was sold to a private developer, and whether it would benefit Penangites.

“They said we simply sold the land but actually we can prove that we did it via an open tender.

“They also said the sale of the land would not benefit Penangites but we have put aside RM500,000 to build affordable homes in Batu Kawan,” he added.

Mansor gave his assurance that the new plan to be submitted by the developer - Ivory Properties Group Bhd - would include places of worship, not only for Muslims but others as well, and plots of land for schools.