GEORGE TOWN, March 27 ― Penang Barisan Nasional (BN) leader Teng Chang Yeow hit out today at the DAP over its suggestion that the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu would defect to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact if he were still alive.

Teng who is also Penang Gerakan chairman said Dr Lim who was the state’s second and longest serving chief minister has more principles than DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang who made the suggestion yesterday.

"Lim Kit Siang’s statement was irresponsible, disrespectful to a deceased political leader and an insult to the people of Penang,” Teng said in a press conference at Penang Gerakan headquarters here.

He said Dr Lim, who is also the founding president of Gerakan, was a leader respected by everyone in Penang.

"He will surely not have any links with a politician who is racist, have no moral principles and is only fighting for his personal gain to protect his cronies,” he said, referring to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Teng was responding to Kit Siang who said Dr Lim would join Dr Mahathir and PH to create a better future for the country if he were still alive.

"I believe that if Lim Chong Eu was still alive today, he would have left the dark side and crossed over to support the Pakatan Harapan campaign to save Malaysia from the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state,” Kit Siang said in a statement.

Dr Lim was Penang chief minister from 1969 to 1990 and died in 2010.

Teng told Kit Siang he does not have any moral basis to comment on Dr Lim when he had spent most of his energy in trying to bring the late Gerakan leader down previously.

"I wish to warn Lim Kit Siang against using Chong Eu for his political agenda and such a move will only prove he is unethical, unprincipled and good only at playing politics,” he said.

Teng told Kit Siang to focus his attention on his son, the current Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, and guide him back to the right political path.

Guan Eng is currently on trial for allegedly abusing his position to buy his Pinhorn Road house below market value.