A girl whose photograph was used by Umno bloggers to level accusations of sexual harassment against Lim Guan Eng’s son has been identified as 21-year-old chess Grandmaster Anya Sun Corke.
Corke, who represents England in chess, has no ties with Penang and has never been a classmate of Lim’s son as alleged by Umno blogs, the DAP said in a press conference in Parliament today.
The girl is understood to be currently an undergraduate of Wellesley College in the United States.
Pro-Umno bloggers including Bukit Gelugor Umno division chief Dr Novandri Hasan Basri had claimed that the Penang chief minister’s son had assaulted a 16-year-old schoolmate and tried to escape punishment by using his father’s name.
DAP publicity chief Tony Pua (picture) showed a press conference today screenshots from Dr Novandri’s and Papagomo’s blog and pictures from www.chessbase.com said to be of a 21-year-old Anya Corke.
“The chess board has been edited from the picture. This proves beyond doubt that the accusations by these Umno cybertroopers are nothing but barbaric lies.
“They have attempted to defame the 16-year-old son of Lim Guan Eng and humiliate his family with a completely fictitious sexual harassment story,” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said.
According to Corke’s Wikipedia listing, she “is a Woman Grandmaster and the top chess player from Hong Kong who is currently playing for England.”
She earned the title with her performance in 36th Chess Olympiad, playing for the Hong Kong men’s team.
She was the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008 Hong Kong National Champion (for men and women), thought to be one of the youngest national champions ever.
Without revealing details of the allegation, Lim said yesterday he was furious with the “barbaric lies” made about his teenage son by “pro-Umno ferocious beasts”.
The DAP secretary-general singled out Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and other ruling party leaders for perpetuating the allegations through snide comments on blogs and social media sites.
The Rembau MP had written on micro-blogging site Twitter on Monday, “Mungkin dia roboh Kampung Buah Pala sebab nak ganti dengan Kampung Buah Dada” in response to another tweet by PapaGomo. [English translation: Maybe he destroyed Kampung Buah Pala because he wants to replace it with Kampung Buah Dada].
Pua called on Khairy today to “retract his snide remarks and apologise to Guan Eng’s son, who is an innocent victim.
“As a role model to young Malaysians claiming — and who claims to be — an example of ‘new politics’ he must take responsibility,” he said.
He also demanded that Umno take disciplinary action againtst its members who “perpetrated the slander”.
“Failure to do so will lead to the conclusion that Umno is the real culprit behind these concerted efforts to slander Pakatan Rakyat leaders, even if young boys and girls become collateral damage in the process,” Pua said.
DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang also said the “despicable, heinous and dastardly” accusations had created an “international incident”.
“We have tarnished our image by dragging one of the youngest female grandmasters in the world into this political slander,” said the Ipoh Timor MP, who is also the grandfather of the 16-year-old boy in the centre of the allegations.
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