GEORGE TOWN: Teresa Kok dismissed as laughable the claim by a PAS MP that she is related to a former communist leader, calling it a false statement that "anyone with a brain" could easily debunk.
In her defamation trial against Kepala Batas MP Siti Mastura Muhammad, Kok criticised her for relying on unverified information to make such claims.
“It has even made Singaporeans laugh at us from across the Causeway. We know that repeated lies can sometimes be accepted as truth, but I am not a communist.
"Anyone with brains will know such claims are false,"the DAP vice-chairman told the High Court.
She also said Mastura was trying to portray all ethnic Chinese as communists in her speech, adding that it was irresponsible to rely on a Barisan Nasional election campaign handbook to make such serious allegations.
Kok was responding to Mastura’s defence that her claim was based on a Barisan Nasional GE15 campaign handbook.
The former minister was testifying in a defamation case at the High Court here brought by herself and fellow DAP leader Lim Guan Eng as well as party stalwart Lim Kit Siang against the Kepala Batas MP.
Mastura had last year controversially claimed that Kok was part of the Lim family, who in turn she said was related to Chin Peng, a former communist leader. She had also linked the Lims to former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.
Kok also said the excuse that Mastura’s explanation was for the benefit of a closed-door audience — a group of people from the PAS women’s wing to prepare them for GE15 — was weak.
The Seputeh MP said having studied film and television at Universiti Sains Malaysia herself, she could deduce that Mastura was recorded using a static camera, which meant that her speech was being recorded to be disseminated to the masses.
Defence lawyer Yusfarizal Yusoff then started querying Kok about DAP’s formation in the 1960s and how it was an offshoot of the People’s Action Party of Singapore.
He also questioned her about DAP’s principles, especially the ones revolving around egalitarianism and equality, espoused in later years in the "Setapak Declaration".
Kok said when it came to equality, the declaration was similar to that of the motto used by PAS — "PAS untuk semua" (PAS for all).
The trial continues before Justice Quay Chew Soon this afternoon with witnesses from the defence.
