By S Pathmawathy | Oct 19, 2011 (updated)
Malaysiakini

Bloggers aligned to Umno used a fake picture to depict the victim of alleged molest by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s 16-year-old son.

DAP publicity secretary Tony Pua said that the picture used by the bloggers had been identified as that of Anya Sun Corke, 21, who is a British citizen reportedly a Hong Kong chess champion.

The woman has no ties to Penang, nor has she come in contact with Lim’s son, Pua said at a press conference at Parliament lobby together with other MPs from the DAP.

“(She is) now a third year student at a top liberal arts college in the United States.

“All these prove beyond doubt that the accusations by these Umno cybertroopers are nothing but barbaric lies,” he said.

Pua described the bloggers’ attempts to pin the molest accusation on Lim’s son as a “complete disgrace to their race, religion and country”.

He said these “bottom feeders of society” were “sinking to despicable depths” to wreck a teenager’s life.

“These bloggers even attempted to lend credibility to the concoction by putting up the picture of a (innocent) young girl,” Pua said, referring to a posting on a blog with the picture of the alleged victim.

According to Pua, it was DAP’s IT manager Goh Kheng Teong who traced the identity of the woman after her picture was posted on the site of Umno-linked blogger PapaGomo.

“Nobody from the school of Lim’s son knew who she was, including the principal and teachers.

“It is not surprising, especially since the girl never studied in Penang, and not even a Malaysian,” he said.

‘They’re willing to destroy a teenager’s life’

Corke, who is currently studying at Wellesley College, earned the reputation as a woman grandmaster and the first-ever woman to play for the Boston Blitz, a Cambridge University-based team that competes in the United States Chess League.

Yesterday, Lim lashed out at pro-Umno bloggers for trying to finish off his political career by wrecking the life of his teenage son with “morally despicable and barbaric” lies.

The DAP parliamentarians also demandied that Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin apologises for his snide remarks against Lim’s 16-year-old son or risk losing his credibility.

Khairy, who is also Rembau MP, had tweeted “@PapaGomo Mungkin dia roboh Kampung Buah Pala sebab nak ganti dengan Kampung Buah Dada” (Perhaps he demolished Buah Pala village to replace it with Boobs Village).

Pua said, “They are willing to destroy the life of an innocent teenager and bring the country into disrepute by defaming a foreign top achiever for political ends.”

He said Khairy should withdraw his tweet and apologise for the snide remarks “which were not only crass, (but)… perpetuating the vicious lies to his 64,000 followers” on micro-blogging site Twitter.

“As Umno Youth chief who is a role model for many Malaysian youths, and who claims to be an example of new politics, he must take responsibility for his callous action and publicly apologise, especially to the victimised 16-year-old son of Lim’s.

“His failure to do so will only further taint his character in the eyes of Malaysians,” said Pua adding that the pro-Umno bloggers should also “repent for their actions”.

He also called on the Umno disciplinary committee to act against the party members involved to prove that Umno is not “beyond redemption”.

“Failure to take action against these rogue and vulgar members, such as Dr Novandri Hassan and PapaGomo, will only lead to the conclusion that Umno is the real culprit behind this concerted effort to slander and libel Pakatan Rakyat leaders, even if young, innocent boys and girls become collateral damage in the process,” Pua said.