Wong (left) and Sim hold up the six police reports lodged at the One-Stop Centre yesterday.
KUCHING: Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei lodged six police reports yesterday calling for investigation into what he says are defamatory messages and images made against him on social media.
This is the second time Wong is lodging similar reports against those whom he believes to be responsible for the online allegations, which he asserts are ‘baseless’.
He first made a police report in August against allegations that he owned a ‘million-ringgit residence’ and that he had been involved in a fraudulent land deal.
According to him, the allegations have seemingly been taken to another level recently, with the same group of persons now claiming that his alleged multi-million residence was luxuriously furnished.
“These allegations have started for a while but I have remained silent until one of the recent images actually shows my current residential area.
“While such malicious allegations are attempts at character assassination against me, I am more concerned about the safety of my family members,” he told reporters after lodging his reports at the police One-Stop Centre at Jalan Simpang Tiga here.
He added he is less worried about his reputation being smeared, but more concerned about his family’s safety as the ones behind the post have resorted to putting up a photo of his housing area.
“It is not that I don’t condone criticism but not to the extent of character assassination and threatening the safety of my family,” he said.
On the alleged fraudulent land deal, Wong, who is a lawyer, said he did represent one of the defendants in the court case a couple of years ago.
He clarified that he was not involved in the land deal, but had only defended his client in court where he had successfully cleared his client’s name.
“As far as the land deal at Jalan Stephen Yong was concerned, I was not involved in the whole case (of land transfer). I only represented one of the defendants who was being sued for the fraudulent transfer of the land.
“My client was found not guilty and this was a few years ago. A friend of mine told me that the court case has been settled,” he added.
According to him, the so-called evidence against him was baseless because the group acquired some images and fabricated them to confuse others.
One of the images showed a past court order acquired by Wong and his legal partner on a matter, which was irrelevant to the case claimed by the unidentified group.
He said the photo only showed part of the court order with his and his legal partner’s name, and that the accompanying headline put up by the group did not match the genuine content of the court order.
Wong said if he was indeed involved in the fraudulent land deal as alleged by the group, he would have had to forge signatures and documents – an act he says he has never done.
Last week, through a national Chinese daily, Wong had called on the group to come forward and identify themselves with the police so that they could face each other and clear the air.
In response to the news report, the group left an online comment challenging Wong to lodge a police report.
“I believe he (person behind the post) is trying to entrap me. If he has anything against me, he should be the one lodging a report against me.
“I know it does not happen by chance. I have been targeted. I have paid a courtesy call on the KPD (Kuching police chief ACP Ng Ah Lek) and he has said that he will look into this case seriously, like all other defamatory cases,” added the assemblyman.
He said he will also bring the matter up with Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo so that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) can work on identifying the group behind the allegations and images.
Wong cautioned: “Whoever forwarded or commented (those messages and images on Facebook) have to be careful. We all have to be responsible for what we say and share.”
Accompanying him to lodge his police reports was Sim Kiat Leng, who is a special assistant to Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen.