DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang today criticised malaysiakini for the publication of an article which he said "substituted fiction for fact".

The news analysis, which highlighted internal party opposition to Lim's recent proposal for a 'secular front', also stated that the DAP leader had gone to last month's Keadilan annual general meeting in Terengganu without prior knowledge of his party's central executive committee (CEC).

"This malaysiakini report violated the journalistic maxim of 'opinions are free but facts are sacred' because when I attended the Keadilan AGM in Kemaman, it was with the approval of DAP's CEC which met three days earlier on Nov 7," Lim said in a statement today.

The Dec 19 article, 'Party members uneasy over Lim's new secular front bid' written by journalist Susan Loone, quoted a party source as saying that the DAP leader's attendance at the AGM had caught the CEC unawares.

"The assumption was that no leader would be going," the article quoted the source as saying.

According to the article, some party members felt that it was necessary to keep the party out of "misadventures" with the opposition Barisan Alternatif coalition after Lim's attendance at the former coalition partner's AGM caught the party's CEC by surprise.

However, Lim said the party's CEC had endorsed his presence at the Keadilan meeting.

In September, DAP opted out of BA when discussions with former coalition partner PAS failed to resolve their differences over the Muslim-based party's Islamic state policy.

However, last week Lim proposed the formation of a new 'secular' front, which excluded PAS. The suggestion received a cold response from Keadilan and PRM, who said that they "do not simply abandon partners".

The malaysiakini article said some DAP party members suspect that the latest proposal by Lim could be an attempt to test the waters for another form of co-operation with PAS despite intense opposition within the party. In 1990, DAP had a 'secular' pact with Semangat 46 while the now defunct party was at the same time in a coalition with PAS.

Safeguard credibility

Lim also urged the web-based media outfit to guard its credibility and not neglect journalistic ethics and professionalism.

"Malaysiakini should also safeguard its credibility and reputation by ensuring it is not manipulated for specific agendas by certain people, including some who have developed life-long obsessions to indulge in DAP-bashing and even Lim Kit Siang-bashing," he said.

Lim was referring to a number of letters to the editor written on the same day of the article which were critical of his leadership and the party. He claimed that the letters were written by the same person.

Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan said the online publication welcomed criticism from all parties, both the government and the opposition.

"Like DAP, malaysiakini, too, is a democratic institution," he said.

Notwithstanding the contentious detail pointed out by Lim, Gan said Loone's article was largely about some party members being uneasy about DAP's 'secular front' proposal.

"Perhaps the person she quoted was not privy to the goings-on in DAP's CEC or may have overlooked the committee's decision, but we stand by our analysis that Lim's proposal does not have unanimous support within his party," said Gan.

He also said that malaysiakini's letters forum is participated by a broad cross-section of readers, and no one individual would be able to manipulate the many issues discussed in the website.

"Perhaps Lim likes to think that there is possibly only one person out there who is critical of him or his party, but he is of course entitled to that opinion."