Kit Siang denies calling Najib 'syaitan'

The DAP's newly-elected Gelang Patah parliamentarian Lim Kit Siang has denied an Utusan Malaysia report that he had called Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak ‘syaitan’ (devil).

"I have never done such a thing," Lim said in a statement today.

The Umno-owned Malay daily reported over the weekend that Lim had said this at a ceramah in Ipoh.

It then added a silat group’s response calling Lim a ‘hantu-raya’ (a spirit kept to perform manual labour for its owner), for allegedly turning Chinese Malaysians against the BN government.

"Utusan has violated all ethics and journalistic standards. Can it descend further? How low can the editors plumb in scraping the bottom of the barrel, to placate and please their Umno masters in the campaign of demonisation against DAP leaders and me?" Lim asked.

Lim said he is prepared to debate with Utusan or anyone else on what is best for the nation’s future, but said he believes that the daily is not interested in constructive discussion, as its agenda is to demonise Pakatan Rakyat leaders like him.

He cited last Sunday's front-page report on unconfirmed rumours - that a DAP official had ‘tried to bribe the Registrar of Societies’ to get the party deregistered - when there was no truth to this.

Lim also repeated his denial of any involvement in the riots of May 13 1969, as alleged by Perkasa vice-president Zulkifli Noordin.

"These are downright lies and falsehoods, as I was never in Kuala Lumpur from May 11-13, 1969, and was never involved in any processions through the streets of Kuala Lumpur, not to mention alleged slogans like ‘Malai-Seh’.

He questioned why Zulkifli(right) enjoys immunity and impunity for "seditious lies and falsehoods".

Yesterday, on the eve of the 44th anniversary of riots, Zulkifli had sent out a series of tweets, including one mentioning Lim by name.

“Tomorrow is May 13 ... the 44th anniversary of race riots in Malaysia which was the atrocity of chauvinists including Kit Siang’s party which used the slogan Malai-Seh or Die Malay,” reads the tweet.

In his defence, Lim referred to remarks exonerating him by former Umno member Tamrin Ghafar, son of former deputy premier Abdul Ghafar Baba, whike on the GE13 campaign trail for the DAP. 

Tamrin had cleared Lim of involvement in the 1969 incident , claiming this had been triggered by a mini-coup in Umno itself to topple the first premier Tunku Abdul Rahman.