PAS MP apologises for accusing PM of being anti-Chinese

Sepang Member of Parliament Mohamed Hanipa Maidin from PAS, Thursday apologised for his offending statement recently which portrayed the prime minister as being anti-Chinese, thus leaving him off the hook from being referred to the parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee.

Hanipa made the apology after Datuk Ahmad Hamzah (BN-Jasin) tabled a motion to refer him to the committee over his malicious statement on Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is also the MP for Pekan.

On Oct 23, when interjecting the debate speech by Datuk Seri Noh Omar (BN-Tanjong Karang), the opposition MP accused Najib of being a racist over Najib's statement during Operation Lalang in 1987, purportedly calling on the Malays "to draw the blood of the Chinese with the keris (Malay dagger)".

Hanipa explained that when he made the remarks, he was referring to the Wikipedia posting which attributed the statement made against the Chinese to the prime minister and since there was no denial, he regarded the statement as true.

"I acknowledge what is written in the Hansard. If it (statement in Wikipedia) is not true, I am prepared to withdraw what I had said and apologise.

"If (the) Pekan (MP) says the Wikipedia statement is not true, please lodge a report and take action against Wikipedia to clear the prime minister's name," he said after the question-and-anwer session in the Dewan Rakyat Thursday.

Satisfied with Hanipa's explanation, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia accepted his apology and regarded the matter as resolved.

"In this matter, if the Yang Berhormat (Sepang) had disputed what was written in the Hansard, I would have to make the decision for further investigation be carried out but there's no need for it here as everything that happened in the dewan (hall) is in the Hansard."

Pandikar Amin also reminded the MPs to be responsible when taking part in the debates and to be careful with what they say in the Dewan Rakyat.