‘Molest’ tale: No trace of girl in Penang

DAP has identified the British girl from her images posted on Umno blogs.

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KUALA LUMPUR: The girl who was allegedly molested by the 16-year-old son of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had never been to Malaysia, DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua said today.

The 21-year-old girl, a former world chess champion, was identified as Anya Corke, a British citizen of mixed parentage. Her father is Scottish and her mother Chinese.

Pua said she was traced from the images posted on pro-Umno blogs by the DAP headquarters’ IT manager.

“We went to the school to look for girl but the headmaster and the teachers told us they do not know who she was.

“She has never studied in Penang. We don’t even know if she has ever been to Malaysia,” Pua told reporters at the Parliament lobby here.

Corke, who was raised in Hong Kong, has won many national and international chess championship titles. She is currently studying in Wellesley College, a renowned women liberal arts college in the US.

Pua said the images of Corke that appeared on the pro-Umno blogs such as “Papagomo” were taken and cropped while she was playing chess.

He added that the images were most likely taken from the website, www.chessbase.com.

“This proves beyond doubt that all the accusations by these Umno cybertroopers are nothing but lies.
“They are willing to destroy the life of an innocent 16-year-old and bring the country into disrepute by defaming a foreign top achiever for political ends,” Pua said.

He said that legal action against the bloggers has been considered but it was up to Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, to decide how to pursue the matter.

On Monday, several pro-Umno blogs alleged that Lim’s son had molested a female schoolmate at the Heng Yee Chinese Secondary School.

The blogs also claimed that in order to cover up the act, Lim’s family had paid the girl RM200,000 for her silence and transferred his son out to another school.

‘A heinous lie’

Today, Pua also asked Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin to withdraw his “snide and crass” tweets over the issue and to apologise to Lim’s son.

Yesterday, Khairy tweeted several tweets regarding the matter, one of which was: “Mungkin dia roboh Kampung Buah Pala sebab nak ganti dengan Kampung Buah Dada” (Maybe he demolished Kampung Buah Pala to replce it with Kampung Buah Dada).

Kampung Buah Pala, the oldest enclave of ethnic Indians in Penang, made headlines in 2009 when private developers demolished the village.

The state government later agreed to compensate the families with a double-storey house each. However, 15 out of the 24 villagers accepted the offer.

Pua said Khairy, who was a role model for many young Malaysians, should be held accountable for his callous remarks.

He also said that Umno must also take “harsh and stern” actions against Umno members like “Papagomo” who spread the slander (about the groping incident).

Meanwhile, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, described the accusation against his grandson as a “heinous” lie, saying Malaysian politics was falling deeper into gutter politics.

“The prime minister speaks of political transformation but we keep falling deeper into gutter politics,” he said.

Kit Siang said that the standard of politics in the country was deteriorating, including matters pertaining to race and religion.

Guan Eng was not present at the press conference as he is away in Singapore.