There seems to be an attempt to drive a wedge between DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and his state party chief, Chow Kon Yeow, with the mysterious appearance of a Facebook page called ‘New CM, new hope’.
However, Chow was quick to nip the matter in the bud by vehemently denying that he was behind the FB campaign urging the people to support him to be next Penang CM.
Chow said the fake page came to his attention in December last year, and he has since denied being involved in it.
He lamented that the profile photo used by the page was the same one published alongside his column in local Chinese daily Kwong Wah Jit Poh.
Chow, who is state executive councillor, said he has lodged complaints against the FB page to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on Jan 20, as well as filing a police report today.
“I hope DAP members will not be manipulated by this. If there is any criminal element, the police should take action as it has violated my rights,” Chow said at a press conference today.
“The page accumulated more ‘likes’ than my official page. Anyway, we cannot stop people from clicking ‘like’ on the page,” added the Padang Kota MP, laughing.
Among the postings on the ‘New CM, new hope’ FB page were allegations that Lim is allegedly close to businessmen, and that he supposedly suppresses dissent within the party.
There is even a posting of Malaysiakini’s report from its Chinese version about Lim’s wife, Betty Chew, being offered a seat on the property services committee of the Penang Chinese Chambers of Commerce.
Lim has insisted that Chew had rejected the appointment, and decried that his enemies sought to attack him by targeting his family members.
Chow said the fake FB page gave the impression that he was using it to promote “a certain agenda”.
He added that while his comments, photos and daily activities were reposted on the fake page, he is “puzzled and is clueless” about the agenda of those involved in the matter.
“Initially they said the page is not administered by me and that it has nothing to do with me, but after that, they started posting comments using me as the first person,” he said.
FB postings cut and pasted
Chow was referring to a police report lodged at the Northeast Police Headquarters along Jalan Pattani today at 11am by Pengkalan Kota assemblyman Lai Hon Meng.
According to Lai, he came to know about the fake FB posting on Jan 29.
“News about the page was carried by most Chinese-language dailies,” Lai said, in his police report.
The fake FB page displays Chow’s photo on its profile, and contains copies of Chow’s postings from his own page, which were cut and pasted, but not shared, Lai noted.
Lai said the fake page featured Chow making personal attacks against state government leaders.
“One of the messages posted on Dec 28, under a photo of Chow with Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang, quoted Chow as allegedly saying that he and Kit Siang alone handed over the aid to flood victims in Kelantan,” Lai added.
During the floods, DAP has sent several teams to hand over flood aids to victims in the east coast state, and these activities were prominently highlighted in the FB pages of several assemblypersons.
“Many Facebook users wrongly perceived that the messages actually were Chow’s views and writings,” he stressed.
He urged the police and the MCMC to probe the matter. - M'kini
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