DAP’s Liew finds fault with headline in The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Some DAP Members of Parliament may not be reading their party adviser Lim Kit Siang’s blog.

Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong has accused The Star of carrying a headline that he claims led to the controversy over Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s bungalow, contradicting a blog posting by the party adviser.

Liew claimed the front-page headline in The Star’s northern edition on March 21 was “inaccurate and politically motivated”.

His claims came a day after the elder Lim, the Gelang Patah MP, wrote on his blog that “Guan Eng’s reply and context was correctly reported” by The Star.

Liew admitted that there was nothing wrong with the content of the story in The Star, an opinion which was also echoed by Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari.

Zairil also claimed the headline was wrong and politically motivated.

Most Chinese newspapers also carried the story with similar content as The Star. DAP also did not ask for an immediate correction of The Star headline.

A video has also gone viral showing the chief minister answering questions by reporters when he allowed them to tour his house. In it, he can be heard saying: “I am not a property agent. I wouldn’t know what is the price.”

The video comes from a Facebook posting on the Buletin Mutiara website, a bi-weekly publication by the Penang state government.

DAP leaders have been issuing statements in defence of Lim since the controversy over the bungalow broke earlier this month.

Liew, who was with Zairil, told a press conference at the Parliament lobby yesterday that the headline CM: No idea of Value was inaccurate but did not dispute the content of The Star’s report.

“This whole week, there has been much talk by different ministers and media as if he was trying to hide and shy away ... I blame The Star for all the misunderstanding,” he said.

He added Lim was merely answering a question from a reporter who had asked if he knew that his home was worth RM6.5mil.

“They asked this because they wanted to compare the value of the house to that of (ex-Selangor mentri besar Datuk Seri Dr) Khir Toyo which was of the same value.

“There is nothing wrong with the content but the headline is very misleading,” he said.

On whether the newspaper was informed on this issue, he said, “The Star already knows, and that is why we are informing them now.”

He said DAP was not planning to take any legal action but the party was just bringing it up to “inform the paper”.

Lim did not speak to the media in Parliament yesterday.

“I have an appointment to go to,” he said, before entering his car.