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Assemblymen should not stir up racism, Penang court told in Guan Eng suit

Assemblymen should not stir up racism, Penang court told in Guan Eng suit

Penang opposition leader Datuk Jahara Hamid told the High Court today that elected reps should not use people's problems to stir up racial sentiments.

She said elected representatives should act professionally.

"They should not make use of issues affecting the people to accuse their political rivals of racism outside the legislative assembly," she said.

Jahara took the stand today in her lawsuit against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for calling her a "racist grandmother" at the state legislative assembly in December 2013.

She cited a December 9 report entitled "Guan Eng calls Jahara ‘racist grandmother’ over illegal stalls issue" in The Malay Mail Online news portal in her defamation suit.

In the article, Lim said Jahara deliberately singled out how the local council had not taken action against four Chinese-owned stalls in Pantai Bersih in Butterworth but neglected to mention that there were also more than four Malay-owned stalls in the same area.

“I’ve always considered her to be a reasonable typical grandmother; but now she is an unreasonable racist grandmother.

“The opposition is clearly playing the racial card here to create racial tension,” he added in a press conference here," Lim was quoted as saying.

In the article, Lim also hit out at Jahara for allegedly telling "a pack of lies" on talks that the state government had approved the renaming of Pulau Jerejak to Mazu Island.

“I have never approved any such approval. There is no such thing as ‘Mazu Island’. There is no such thing of approval for a ‘tokong’ (Chinese temple),” he said.

Jahara had asked in her speech at the assembly sitting whether Pulau Jerejak had been renamed as “Mazu Island” and asked when this happened and why a “Mazu Temple” was allowed to be built at the former leprosy centre and prison building on the island.

Jahara told the court, presided by Judicial Commissioner Datuk Nordin Hassan, that the remark by Lim, which was widely reported in the print and electronic media, had injured her reputation greatly and put her in a humiliating position.

After relating the incidents and debates in the august house that led Lim to make the remark at a press conference in the legislative assembly building, Jahara said the "racist" label tarnished her name as long as people could access news articles on it.

She also said readers' comments on news reports on the matter had caused her name, image and dignity to suffer further.

She said news on the remark was published on the MSN website and readers posted nasty and disparaging remarks against her and her party Umno.

She noted that many comments were carried a racial tone and one reader also called her a "senile grandmother".

Jahara, who is five-term Teluk Air Tawar assemblyperson and the first female Barisan Nasional opposition leader in a state legislative assembly, said Lim failed to apologise to her openly for making the remark.

She said she had made an open appeal to Lim to apologise but he did not respond.

Her lawyer from Jaharberdeen and Co had sent Lim a letter of demand on February 27, 2014, seeking apology.

"He showed no remorse. He declined to apologise and as reported by the media, he only apologised for calling me a grandmother.

"He maintained that I am still a racist," she said.

She asked the court to clear her name, as she was only trying to highlight an issue affecting traders who operated without permit, whose livelihoods were affected by council enforcement exercises.

The hearing continues tomorrow with Jahara expected to be cross-examined by Lim's lawyer Datuk N. Murali.

Several reporters who were present at Lim's press conference, where he made the remark, are also expected to testify.

Jahara is represented by Datuk Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos.

Lim did not attend the hearing this morning. – February 11, 2015.