Okay to have different political views as long as it is not defamatory’

It is absolutely okay for politicians to have different ideologies and political views as long as it is not defamatory, said DAP veteran Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang.

“We are not talking about whether it is normal or not normal, we are talking about whether it is defamatory or not defamatory here,” he said, Malay Mail reported.

He pointed out this point while testifying in his defamation suit against Kepala Batas MP Siti Mastura Muhammad who had claimed that he, his son Guan Eng and Betty Chew held communist ideology and were related to the late Communist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng.

“It is more about the allegations of a conspiracy to destroy Malaysia,” he told the court presided by Justice Datuk Quay Chew Soon this morning during cross examination by Siti Mastura’s lawyer, Yusfarizal Yussoff.

Kit Siang, Guan Eng and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok had filed defamation suit against the Pas leader for making the unfounded allegation during the Kemaman by-election last year.

Siti Mastura also linked the trio to Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Lim added that he had no issues with Pas wanting to push for shariah laws as long as it was within the framework of the Federal Constitution.

When questioned by his lead counsel Datuk Sankara Nair, Kit Siang said he was utterly shocked and outraged by the allegations Siti Mastura made against him.

“What she said was against my whole life’s vision,” he said.