by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Slang, in Petaling Jaya on Sunday, 12th June 1994:
I give Keng Yaik seven days to publicly apologise and withdraw his vicious lie in 1990 about DAP-PAS secret talk in Jakarta or I will re-institute legal proceedings against Keng Yaik for defamation
Gerakan President and Minister for Primary Industries, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, claimed victory when my defamation suit against him was struck off by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Friday.
Keng Yaik cannot be more wrong. If I had known that I had to be in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Friday morning, nothing in the world would have stopped me from being present-and I would have definitely flown down from Penang to Kuala Lumpur for the case.
The statement by Keng Yaik’s lawyer, Dominic Puthucheary in court that I showed no courtesy to the court and was not serious about the case was most uncalled for and untrue.
I had instructed my lawyer, Karpal Singh, to ask for an early date for the hearing of my defamation suit filed in May 1990, as I wanted to teach Keng Yaik a lesson for concocting and spreading lies about DAP leaders.
As a result of a breakdown of communication and the refusal of Keng Yaik’s lawyer to agree to a postponement, the Kuala Lumpur High Court has struck out my defamation suit against Keng Yaik. It does not mean that Keng Yaik had won the case on its ‘merits’ and Keng Yaik should not gloat too early as I am at liberty to re-institute the same legal proceeding against Keng Yaik either by applying to set aside the striking-out decision or filing new defamation action against Keng Yaik.
Keng Yaik and Malaysians will not forget what led to my instituting legal action of defamation against him.
Keng Yaik told the lie at the Selangor Gerakan state general meeting on April 22, 1990 and subsequent occasions that the DAP and PAS had held a secret meeting in Jakarta on April 16, 1990.
The very next day, April 23, 1990, I denied that the DAP and PAS had any meeting in Jakarta or anywhere else and challenged Keng Yaik to produce proof within 48 hours.
When Keng Yaik failed to produce any proof on the expiry of the 48-hour ultimatum, I named the Chan Clan Association for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor as the venue for Keng Yaik to produce his proof to substantiate his DAP-PAS secret Jakarta talk allegation on Thursday, 3rd May 1990 at 12 noon.
I also gave notice that if Keng Yaik failed to produce proof at the Chan Clan Association on May 3, I would be publicly calling him a liar and suggested that Keng Yaik should at least sent his lawyer so that he could institute legal action against me for slander and bringing his reputation and character into public ridicule, contempt and odium.
Neither Keng Yaik nor his lawyers turned up at the Chan Clan Association on May 3. Publicly and in the presence of the press, I called Keng Yaik “an inveterate, compulsive and incorrigible liar” and invited him to sue me in court for defamation.
Again, Keng Yaik dared not sue. I then warned Keng Yaik that if he did not sue, the DAP will print and put up posters throughout the country, particularly in Gerakan-held constituencies, declaring: “Keng Yaik – You Are A Liar!”
I gave Keng Yaik advance notice and advised him to go to court to seek a court injunction to restrain the DAP from publishing and putting up these posters. Again Keng Yaik dared not go to court.
Finally, in desperation, Keng Yaik called me a ‘liar’ for calling him a ‘liar’, and challenged me to sue him.
I accepted the challenge and instituted legal action as there was only one issue in contention: Keng Yaik’s lie about DAP-PAS secret talk in Jakarta on April 15, 1990.
If Keng Yaik does not apologise and withdraw his lie about the fictitious DAP-PAS secret meeting in Jakarta, in 1990, DAP will consider another round of nation-wide,postering of ‘Keng Yaik – You Are A Liar!”
Keng Yaik had substantiated my public statement that he is ‘an inveterate, compulsive and incorrigible liar’ as he once told Mister Weekly that I had a private ‘closed-door -meeting’ with him in1987, when this was a complete lie.
At the end of January this year, Keng Yaik insinuated over RTM TV English news that I was an Australian spy, and when I challenged him to confirm his statement so that I could institute legal proceedings against him, Keng Yaik dared not deny or confirm what he had said over RTM!
I am now giving Keng Yaik seven days to publicly apologise and withdraw his vicious lie in 1990 about the fictitious DAP-PAS secret meeting in Jakarta on April 16, 1990 or I will re-institute legal proceedings against Keng Yaik for defamation.
Before re-institution of legal proceedings against Keng Yaik, DAP keeps open the option of another round of nation¬wide poster campaign on “Keng Yaik – You Are A Liar!” especially in Gerakan-held constituencies.