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Media statement by Lim Kit Siang on Friday, 17th August 2012: Lawyers instructed to institute legal proceedings against defamation against me in Tanda Putera’s official Facebook page The accusation by Aida Fitra Buyong, the executive producer of the movie, Tanda Putera, that I was being “defensive” over the publication of my photograph on the May 13 film’s official Facebook page alleging that I had urinated at the flagpole bearing the Selangor flag at the then Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence, provoking May 13, 1969 riots, is most scandalous, outrageous and offensive. Do the creators of the May 13 film expect me to keep silent while they concoct lies about the May 13, 1969 riots, like the total fiction about my urination at the then Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence provoking May 13, 1969 riots when I was never in Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969? Would the film’s creators, including director Datin Paduka Shuhaimi and executive producer accept lies and falsehoods told about them without attempting to defend their own dignity and integrity? Aida’s accusation has in fact debunked the claim by Tanda Putera’s director Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba that the May 13 riot scene, which lasts about 10 minutes of the 115-minute film, was historically accurate. Today’s “The Malaysian Insider” report “Film producer calls Kit Siang ‘defensive’ over May 13 picture” by Hafidz Baharom reads: Pesona Pictures Sdn Bhd, the producer of the movie, is now accusing Lim of being defensive over the publication of his photograph which had sparked widespread condemnation from the DAP parliamentary leader and his political colleagues. Lim has repeatedly pointed out that he was only a young politician in 1969 and was not even in the federal capital during the riots. But Umno blogs have gone on overdrive, and have been pushing the message to voters that it was Lim who had sparked the riots. Earlier this year, an administrator of the “Tanda Putera” social network fan page had posted a photograph of Lim being “manhandled”, with a caption alleging it was taken after he urinated on the flagpole in the Selangor mentri besar’s residential compound in Kuala Lumpur before the May 13 riots. The picture was removed last month after personal attacks and threats were allegedly made against the cast and crew of the film. Lim said yesterday that he reserved the right to take legal action against such defamatory references featuring him in the “Tanda Putera” official Facebook page. “Why is he so defensive? “All those photographs were already widely available on the Internet,” said Aida Fitri Buyong, Pesona Pictures executive producer. She told The Malaysian Insider yesterday that the pictures and captions published on the “Tanda Putera” Facebook fan page were submitted by netizens and were already widely available before being posted on the site. “We went through those photos to research on the wardrobe, the scenery, the cars used and such just to make the scenes in the film authentic,” she said. I am not aware that apart from Tanda Putera’s official Facebook page which had used the caption: “Lim Kit Siang telah kencing di bawah tiang bendera Selangor yang terpacak di rumah menteri besar Selangor ketika itu, Harun Idris”, such a caption which is based on a wild and reckless lie had ever been posted anywhere on cyberspace. In view of the reckless accusation by Tanda Putera’s executive producer, compounding the earlier defamation against me on the film’s official Facebook page, I am instructing my lawyers to institute legal proceedings relating to the defamation. *Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor
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