Lim: No money to print 100,000 Bahasa Malaysia Bibles

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said that the allegation that his party will print 100,000 Bahasa Malaysia Bibles with the word Allah are insane lies.

GEORGE TOWN: The DAP said today that allegations that the it planned to print 100,000 Bahasa Malaysia copies of the Bible using the word Allag are insane lies.

At a press conference in Putrajaya, Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi made this allegation.

Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng demanded Puad, an Umno supreme council member, to show proof or else withdraw and apologise for what he termed as “insane lies.”

Puad is also quoted to have said that the copies would be distributed for free in several states, including Kedah and Kelantan.

Unfortunately, said Lim, Puad’s lies were printed in Umno-controlled newspapers – New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia.

“Puad’s lies are insane and without any basis whatsoever. I will direct the DAP leaders to lodge police reports against Puad and the three Umno-controlled papers tomorrow for such insane and dangerous lies to create public disorder.

“The DAP will also consider other legal measures against Puad and the newspapers,” Lim, the Penang Chief Minister, said in a statement today.

Lim insisted that DAP had never got involved in religion, believing that religion was a matter of personal faith for the individual that should neither be exploited nor politicised.

Moreover, he pointed out that the DAP neither has the resources nor the financial muscle to print and distribute an astonishing 100,000 Bahasa Malaysia edition of the Bible.

He said Puad’s statement was just another Umno lie against DAP to win votes in the coming general election.

He wonders whether Umno would next even accuse the DAP of being responsible for Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder.

He said the DAP was disgusted with such dangerous tactics by Umno to foment hate against his party among the majority Muslim population and among the various religions in Malaysia.

Quoting a Malay proverb “baling batu, sembunyi tangan,” he said the DAP was not so dishonest like Umno or Barisan Nasional in playing dirty by not admitting its responsibility.

“In upholding truth and justice, DAP is willing to pay the price as we will not live a lie,” said Lim, the Bagan MP and Air Putih assemblyman.

He even compared BN with English football club Liverpool’s Uruguayan international striker Luis Suarez, who had often been labelled as “a racist, diver and a cheat”.

He compared the DAP with the same club’s former England striker Robbie Fowler for sense of fairplay.

Lim recalled that once Fowler, at height of his Liverpool career, protested against the referee for wrongfully awarding him a penalty against Arsenal.

Comparatively, he pointed out that the DAP had willingly and openly admitted to a honest mistake over the election vote counting without any pressure from BN, “just like Fowler’s sense of fairplay”.