Setting the record straight with Guan Eng

The Mole wishes to clear some points raised by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng regarding our report headlined Guan Eng - between Singapore and Malaysia that was published by us on Monday, 26 Sept.

He claimed, as reported by the New Straits Times two days later, of not receiving any queries from The Mole or anyone else as he was away in Surabaya, hence disputing our report that said “Lim had declined comment”.

Lim’s press secretary (II), Wong Kim Fei, said that the NST had lied when it reported that The Mole had contacted Lim when he was in Surabaya, and denied that any news media had contacted him at all.

In the NST report Wong was quoted as saying, "I had contacted the chief minister who denied that The Mole or any news media had contacted him on this or any other topic."

We had in fact contacted his political secretary Zairil Khir Johari at 2.41pm Monday 26 Sept,  to assist us in getting through to Lim.

The first sms sent to Guan Eng's aide

Zairil in turn asked our reporter to email the questions we wished to ask Lim.

This is the email which was sent to Zairil, to seek clarification on the statement attributed to him.

The follow up sms

 Our reporter then sent another follow up SMS seeking response pertaining to the email she sent earlier.

In it she specifically asked Zairil if “do not want to comment” was the stand taken by Lim, to which Zairil replied also via sms that the “YAB would not like to comment”.

So which part did The Mole get it wrong about “Lim declining comment” when it was explicitly stated so by Zairil his political secretary? As such, how can the NST be accused of lying when it quoted The Mole?

Source: MOLE