GEORGE TOWN, Dec 10 — Penang Opposition Leader Datuk Jahara Hamid today slammed Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for dubbing her a “racist grandmother”, saying the term was sexist and derogatory.

Speaking at a press conference here today, Jahara said Lim had not only insulted her, but also women, mothers and grandmothers with his remark.

“Just because I am a grandmother, my dignity was belittled, and as a chief minister, he should not talk like his,” the 62-year-old said this morning.

She then demanded that Lim apologise in the state assembly for using the term to describe her.

“He had lowered the dignity of the chief minister’s post for making such a remark that has elements of sexism,” she said.

The Teluk Air Tawar state assemblyman was responding to remarks by Lim yesterday labelling her as a “racist grandmother” when refuting her allegations of selective enforcement on illegal stalls by the current Pakatan Rakyat state government.

Lim categorised Jahara as an “unreasonable racist grandmother” for deliberately singling out how the council had not taken action against four Chinese-owned stalls in Pantai Bersih in Butterworth while neglecting to mention that there were also more than four Malay-owned stalls in the same area.

Jahara clarified that she was highlighting how four large restaurants at Pantai Bersih that were allowed to continue operating in the area even though they were issued annual compounds, whereas two stalls in Gurney Drive were torn down without warning.

“The two small stalls are built in front of their own houses, these are small petty traders and yet their stalls were demolished without notices while those four big restaurants at Pantai Bersih are allowed to operate as usual,” she said.

She added she did not bring up any racial issue, but was only pointing out the alleged double standards in the city council’s action against unlicensed traders.

“How can I be racist when I am merely asking about the double standards? Just because I questioned this, I am said to be racist,” she said.

She reiterated that, as opposition leader, she must be given space to raise issues affecting the people when she was in the assembly.

“That’s the thing, we can’t criticise the current administration or raise any sensitive issues against the state,” she said. “It is as if he is above everything.”

Pulau Betong state assemblyman Muhamad Farid Saad, who was also at the press conference, said he could not believe that the chief minister could utter such words.

“I have lost respect for him as a chief minister, all 10 of us (opposition assemblymen) have lost respect for him. If he wants respect, he needs to respect others but it looks like he does not respect us and we are disappointed with him,” he said.