FORMER finance minister Lim Guan Eng today confirmed that he was grilled by the police for a public statement made whilst he was in the government in 2019.

He said that he is being probed under Section 504 and 505C of the Penal Code for allegedly causing disharmony through intentional insults and making statements with intent to incite people from a community to act against those from another community.

Section 504 in the Penal code covers intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.

Section 505C of the Penal Code is on statements made with intent to incite or which are likely to incite any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community of persons.

“Police are investigating two public statements made by me in 2019, when I was still in government.

“Police told me that I was investigated under Section 504 and 505C of the Penal Code,” the Bagan MP said in a statement today. 

Yesterday, Lim was summoned to the northeast district police headquarters in George Town today to give his statement over remarks he made in 2019.

The DAP secretary-general questioned why he was called to give his statement during the movement-control order (MCO).

Accompanied by lawyers R.S.N. Rayer and Ramkarpal Singh, Lim arrived at the police headquarters about 2.30pm and left almost two hours later.

Despite the MCO and an emergency currently being imposed by Putrajaya, Lim said that he gave his full cooperation during the investigation.

Lim said while he is being probed now for a statement made in 2019, he also urged the police to do the same for several leaders of PAS and Perikatan Nasional (PN).

“I hope that police also record statements of the leaders of PAS and PN in the same manner during this period.

“Many police reports have been made against them for making racist and extremist religious remarks. However, there have been no developments on the status of these police reports,” the Bagan MP said.

On the manner that the investigation was held during MCO, Lim also took a dig at Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, saying that there is no reason for him to suspend Parliament. 

He said that Parliament in Malaysia had convened without any restriction during the previous four emergency proclamations.

“If police can insist on having my statement recorded during the MCO and emergency period, there is all the more reason to allow Parliamentary meetings to function as normal. 

“There is no reason for Prime Minister Muhyiddin to suspend Parliament and not allow Parliament to meet.

“Parliament had functioned normally and convened at all times even though the previous four emergency proclamations were not repealed. Muhyiddin is wrong to suspend Parliament,” he said, adding that DAP supports the call by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for a petition among MPs to restore Parliament.

Earlier, Lim also urged Putrajaya to revoke the suspension of Parliament under the state of emergency so that the government can pass new financial measures for the people. – January 15, 2021.