Updated @6:00pm : Soi Lek says Guan Eng dragged him into affair rumours - Malaysian Insider

By Lisa J. Ariffin

July 08, 2012

PETALING JAYA, July 8 — Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek turned around today to accuse Lim Guan Eng of dragging him into his domestic problems, claiming it was a ploy by the Penang Chief Minister to divert attention away from rumours of his alleged affair with another woman.

Despite acknowledging that it was MCA’s Malacca chief Datuk Gan Tian Loo who first made the accusations against Lim, Dr Chua pointed to how the latter had been quick to dredge up his name and his 2007 sex scandal the moment the issue surfaced.

“I am disappointed at Guan Eng and his wife’s attitude... how he linked the issue to me and then after doing so, he accused MCA of practising gutter politics.

“All I said was — did it (the affair) happen or not? If not, deny it. Why involve me, the prime minister and the whole world?” Dr Chua told reporters when met this afternoon, minutes before his debate with Lim at the Sunway Convention Centre here.

Lim and his wife, Malacca assemblyman Betty Chew, recently found themselves the target of an alleged sex controversy after Gan accused Lim during the Malacca state assembly sitting of having an affair with an aide.

Gan had also demanded the DAP secretary-general’s wife to reply to allegations that she had beaten up the woman because of the affair, resulting in the latter’s transfer out of the Penang CM’s office.

When the issue first hit media headlines, Lim had lashed out at MCA, reminding the party of the sex scandal involving Dr Chua (picture) in 2007, which has been blamed as part of the reason behind the party’s dismal losses in Election 2008.

“I have no close or secret relationship with my former staff. My wife has never assaulted me or anyone in her life.

“Let MCA repeat their allegations publicly so that my wife and [I] can prove in court that, ‘Lim Guan Eng is not Chua Soi Lek!’, he had said in a statement.

Dr Chua, a former health minister, was secretly filmed having sex in a hotel with his lover in 2007 and was forced to resign from all his government and political positions ahead of Election 2008 after video recordings of his trysts were publicly leaked.


Chew came out yesterday to defend her husband in the face of the attacks, declaring that Lim never had an affair with his former aide and that she had never attacked the woman as alleged.

“My husband is right, he is no Chua Soi Lek,” she said in a statement and also made it a point to remind Dr Chua of his own scandal.

Both Lim and Chew have dared Gan to repeat his allegations outside the state assembly, where he would no longer enjoy immunity, saying they could then sue him for spreading the rumour.

But Gan has since declined to do so and despite repeated calls for his punishment from opposition lawmakers, MCA has not moved to refer the lawmaker to its disciplinary committee.

“We run our party not the way DAP runs theirs. Our members have freedom – we do not impose gag orders and even if they are sacked, they have avenues to air their grievances,” Dr Chua said.