KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 ― Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should ensure those within his camp and the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia heed his call against making racially inflammatory remarks, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said today.

Pointing out that Najib had yesterday urged politicians to avoid making provocative remarks and advised the media to report accurately and fairly, Lim said the Umno president risks sounding “insincere and even hypocritical” if key ministers and Utusan Malaysia ignore his remarks.

“There is a complete absence in Utusan of a spirit of fairness and in the service of truth,” the Bagan MP said in a statement.

He referred to Utusan Malaysia deputy editor Mohd Zaini Hassan’s confession during a National Civics Bureau (BTN) seminar on July 14, 2012 that the Malay paper had taken liberties with the facts in its reporting.

Lim, who had previously sued Utusan for defamation, accused the Malay-language paper of refusing to observe one of the basic tenets of media freedom when it allegedly failed to provide the “right to reply” to those “maligned in their reports”.

He questioned Najib for allegedly taking “no action” against Utusan for the purported “serial lies and false outrageous claims”, pointing out that its own journalists have previously issued open apologies.

Lim also trained his guns on Home minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi said yesterday that ethnic Chinese, who voted for DAP after becoming successful, as ungrateful.

Lim accused Zahid of being “overtly racist and blatantly bullying”, adding that many Chinese are still poor.

“What is the point of holding democratic elections if a voter can be branded as ungrateful for exercising his freedom of choice? Such inflammatory remarks by Zahid is clearly intended to create racial hatred and strike fear into the hearts of the Chinese community in Teluk Intan to force them to vote for BN.

“Najib should prove his consistency to practice what he had preached yesterday by immediately disavowing Zahid’s racist remarks,” Lim said.

“I do not know what logic is applying except to say that this is the same logic used by Hitler to justify his pogroms against the Jews by describing them as ungrateful,” he said, saying that everyone in a democracy has a right to vote freely without being subjected to threats or tempted by gifts.

Last night, Najib pledged to preserve the Internet as a medium for free debate and open discussion, saying that he welcomes informed and constructive criticism while backing the empowerment of journalists to make the government and corporations accountable.

But he drew the line between legitimate criticism and defamation, referring to his move to take legal action against news portal Malaysiakini for allegedly defaming him by publishing readers’ claims of impropriety in the recent Terengganu mentri besar saga.