A TWEET allegedly by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng Pakatan Harapan (PH) would shut down all Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) is fake, his office said today.

Lim’s information officer Zaidi Ahmad said a police report would be lodge on the matter today.

“I was alerted of the fake tweet by friends via WhatsApp this morning.

“It is meant to slander the chief minister. We are trying to trace who is behind it and spreading it,” he told a press conference in Komtar today.

The fake tweet in Bahasa Malaysia said: “Among the measures stated in the PH manifesto to save public funds is abolishing all UiTM campuses nationwide. The money will then be divided equally among the universities set up by the PH government in the future.”

PH’s manifesto was unveiled last night. It mentions nothing on UiTM, which has campuses in every state. The university is open to Bumiputera students although it also has a population of international students. 

Lim said the tweet about abolishing UiTM was fake, but PH’s pledge to abolish the goods and services tax (GST) once it took over Putrajaya was real.

“We will abolish GST, but keep the annual welfare handout RM1,200 BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia).

“We are always asked how we can maintain the BR1M payments without GST, which the current federal government says is the source of funds for the aid.

“It is not true we need GST to pay BR1M. We can do it like how we do it in Penang,” he said.

Lim said without GST, the DAP-led Penang administration had been able to make annual budget surpluses and introduce many social welfare aid schemes to benefit various groups such as senior citizens, students, single mothers, newborns and others.

The money, he said, was also paid annually in cash without fail.

“We can do this with a clean government that practices open tender,” said the two-term chief minister. – March 9, 2018.