Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (pictured) has sent a notice of demand to The Star and its columnist Joceline Tan over an article he claimed to be defamatory. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has directed his lawyers to send a notice of demand to The Star and its columnist Joceline Tan over an article he claimed to be defamatory.

Lim who is also DAP secretary-general said the piece titled “Snap Election for Penang?” published in the newspaper’s Sunday edition today which detailed an alleged discussion on snap polls in the northern state by his party’s central executive committee as recounted by an “insider” was a “false and misleading report”.

“I have instructed my lawyers to send a legal notice of demand for defamation against The Star and its columnist Joceline Tan for its false and misleading report today, ‘Snap election for Penang?’,” Lim said in a statement.

“Whilst there is nothing new with these repeated attempts to disrupt party unity and the Penang state government with serial lies, this column by Joceline Tan clearly ‘crossed the red line’ and was made in bad faith to smear my reputation and image with fresh and baseless allegations of impropriety,” he added.

However, the details of what Lim considered defamatory in Tan’s column were not mentioned.

Lim also stressed that it was not the first time he had been defamed by the daily and Tan, citing his past defamation suit against them in 2012 which was resolved with The Star publishing an apology.