by Looi Sue-Chern
The Malaysian Insider
May 19, 2014

The DAP has slammed Umno-mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia over an article which said that the recent attacks against the Teluk Intan by-election candidate Intan Dyana Sofya Mohd Duad were planned by the “Lim Dynasty”.

Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the Malay newspaper’s Sunday edition, Mingguan Malaysia, had slandered the party by implying that he and his father, Lim Kit Siang, had planned the attacks against Dyana.

“We strongly condemn this. It is very malicious. You slander us once, fine. But you do it again and again.

“Do not try to demean a woman and her dignity like that… Mingguan Malaysia does not know Dyana yet.

“She will not bow to such attacks and she will continue to fight for justice and democracy,” Lim said in a press conference after the opening of the state legislative assembly today.

The feature article “Dyana Sofya dan Dakyah RBA” by Shen Yee Aun, who is a political analyst and Pertubuhan Hak Belia Malaysia president, was published yesterday in Mingguan Malaysia.

The writer alleged that Perak DAP, dominated by cousins Nga Kor Ming and Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, is not in good terms with the Lim Dynasty.

Shen wrote that there were several potential candidates for the Teluk Intan by-election who support the cousins including Nga’s political secretary Chong Zhen Min and Dr Hee Kuan Yew, who is also known by the nickname “Superman”.

He alleged that the Lims, with their startegists and the RBA (Red Bean Army), had drawn up a strategy to promote Dyana, the 27-year-old lawyer and political secretary to Kit Siang, to boost her chances as a candidate.

Shen said the Lims found a picture of Filipina actress Pauleen Luna, who looked like Dyana and circulated the photo of the actress in a bikini to Barisan Nasional supporters through the RBA.

The BN supporters who lacked social media strategies then mobilised their people to spread the fake photo to attack Dyana.

“Now all the media, bloggers, the RBA and even The Star newspaper are reporting how bad BN is. This is a two-pronged tactic to destroy BN’s credibility and earn sympathy votes for Dyana,” he said.

Hitting out at Utusan, Lim said it is already hard for women to join politics and stand for elections.

With reports of such nature, he said, Utusan is making it even more difficult for women.

“It is rude and very, very unbecoming. Here we put forward one of our best and youngest stars and they demean her in such fashion,” he said, adding that it was a dirty tactic.

He also said the daily should rename itself “Utusan minta maaf” (Utusan apologises) since it was in habit of publishing slanderous reports and apologises to him and the DAP later after being taken to court.

“There have been occassions when Utusan apologised voluntarily,” he said.

Lim also took a swipe at Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil for attacking Dyana even before the young DAP lawyer was nominated formally this morning as candidate.

“Why is Umno so angry that its Wanita chief used words like ‘cosmetic’ and ‘boneka’ (puppet) against Dyana?” he said, referring to Shahrizat’s remark on Saturday that she pitied Dyana for allegedly being unaware that she was a puppet being used by the DAP to grab power.

Lim also said the party was also not short of credible candidates, as alleged by MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai in a Bernama report.

Lim said the party chose Dyana because it wanted to give a young woman politician the chance to serve as MP and also to celebrate diversity to break the racial mould in Malaysian politics.

“It is not who you are but what you can do that is important.

“If Liow thinks this is because the DAP has internal political reasons, why doesn’t he come forward and explain why his party declined to contest in the Bukit Gelugor by-election?

“His two predecessors Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek have called him a coward,” Lim said.

Dyana is meeting BN’s Datuk Mah Siew Keong, who is also Gerakan president, in a straight fight for the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat in Perak.

She is a first-time candidate while Mah was MP of the seat for two terms from 1999 to 2008, until he lost it to the DAP.

The seat fell vacant with the death of the incumbent, DAP’s Seah Leong Peng of cancer on May 1. – May 19, 2014.