Lim Kit Siang sues ex-IGP Tun Hanif Omar

PETALING JAYA: DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has filed a civil suit against former inspector-general of police (IGP) Tun Hanif Omar on Wednesday.
This was confirmed by DAP national legal bureau chairman Ramkarpal Singh to theSun.
Lim is taking Hanif to court, over the latter's allegation that DAP wanted Peninsular Malaysia to be split following the May 13, 1969, racial riots.
"I wish to announce that YB Lim Kit Siang has filed a civil suit against Tun Hanif Omar in the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Jalan Duta, in respect of defamatory remarks made by the latter against him as reported in Sinar Harian's article titled Tun Hanif buat pendedahan DAP, PAS' on Sept 6, 2018.
"The said suit was filed on Oct 17 and was served to Tun Hanif's solicitors yesterday (Friday).
"The matter has been fixed for case management on Nov 21," the Bukit Gelugor MP said in a statement.
"A letter of demand was sent to Tun Hanif about a month ago but through his solicitors he has denied liability, leaving us with no choice but to sue him," Ramkarpal said when contacted today.
In a blog post on Sept 8, Lim said he had instructed his lawyers to initiate legal proceedings against Hanif "if there is no satisfactory or acceptable response from the former IGP on his allegations".
"Sinar Harian had reported Hanif as saying that he had put me in prison under the Internal Security Act in May 1969 because DAP wanted to divide Peninsular Malaysia into two parts after the 1969 General Election. The East Coast for the Malays and the West Coast for the Chinese.
"This is a downright lie and falsehood, as neither DAP nor I had ever made such a preposterous proposal whether in 1969, before or after it.
"In fact, in the seven grounds for my detention under the Internal Security Act in 1969, there was no reference whatsoever to the proposal to divide Peninsular Malaysia into the East Coast for Malays and the West Coast for Chinese, and during my initial 60-day custodial detention at the Kuala Selangor police lock-up in 1969, when I was questioned by squads of Special Branch officers, I was never questioned about this allegation.
"This is why I wanted to know where Hanif had sourced this preposterous allegation," he added.