Published: Tuesday December 1, 2009 MYT 7:52:00 PM
Penang Assembly: Daily gets a bum rap from Azhar
GEORGE TOWN: State Opposition leader Datuk Azhar Ibrahim (BN-Penaga) shocked pressmen and visitors to the assembly when he took a swipe at an English daily reporter, saying the paper was not even good enough to wipe his buttocks.
As he said this, he gestured to his buttocks.
Azhar’s outburst came after he accused the daily of making up a quote from him in an article published Tuesday.
“I never spoke to any reporter from that daily,” he said, before angrily demanding that the reporter identify himself.
State Assembly Speaker Datuk Abdul Halim Hussain then warned Azhar against addressing the media while the reporter looked stunned and confused as he had not quoted Azhar in the story.
The incident was sparked by Seri Delima assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer who accused Azhar of condoning a protest by Barisan Nasional Youth members at the state assembly building on Monday.
Azhar initially laughed off the matter by brushing off Rayer as a “joker” but got agitated when Rayer lambasted him for his alleged comments that he purportedly approved of the incident.
The exchange between the two dragged on for more than half-an-hour with insults like “gangster”, “cartoon (character)” and “old man” hurled in the house.
Later, during the lunch break, Azhar told reporters that he had gone through the paper’s report and found that his name had not been mentioned.
“I said those remarks because Rayer stated that I endorsed the protest and made a statement (claiming so) in the daily.
“He did not say ‘Barisan Nasional leaders’ (as was stated in the story) — he said ‘Opposition Leader’ which is me.
“Whatever said in the chambers has to be true. You cannot lie in there, so I believed him,” he said.
He added it was now Rayer’s duty to retract his statement in the chambers.
“If he retracts (his statement), I will retract (my statement) as well.
“My comments were not extreme. Imagine how I felt at that moment thinking the reporter had quoted me without interviewing me? Of course I was angry,” he said.
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