Pakatan Harapan’s Simpang Renggam candidate Dr Maszlee Malik (pic) has apologised for making a general remark about Umno members following an angry confrontation with two villagers at Kampung Isnin Maarof.

The former education minister, who is seeking his second term as a MP, said he went down to the temporary relief centre after finding out five families have been placed there due to floods.

“I am not a stranger to the village and it's not the first time that I went there to help them. The village received assistance during Covid-19 and we organised sepak takraw games with them and visited their pineapple plantation.

“Maybe, during this election time, there are new rules where I am not allowed to visit the relief centre but the families, whom I called to see me outside the relief centre, were happy to meet me where we took pictures together,” he said in a video posted on his TikTok account.

Maszlee added that the elderlyvillage chief approached and started to scold him and said that this could be due to a misunderstanding.

He said he forgave the man as humans make mistakes.

"On my side, maybe I was in shock due to the provocation and had a negative reaction to it by making a generalisation that the village chief and the second person are Umno members, but their actions do not mirror the behaviour of all Umno members," said Maszlee.

He added that Umno candidate Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad was friendly and professional with him when they met at the nomination centre or night market.

“I also know the Umno machinery in the Simpang Renggam community and its division chief Datuk Zakaria Dullah. We are all professionals and do not have a problem with one another,” said Maszlee.

Maszlee said on his side, he apologised if his words hurt the feeling of Umno members for making a generalisation about them following the actions of the village chief.

“When we become angry, we lose our consideration and it is a lesson to us all to control our anger and to myself to be careful when uttering words,” he said, adding that he hopes such an incident would not happen again.

On Sunday (Nov 13), Maszlee was involved in a heated exchange with villagers while visiting the flood relief centre.

In a one-minute 29-second video which has since gone viral an elderly man was stopped by two police personnel at the relief centre when confronting Maszlee.

The man told Maszlee to leave the relief centre.

Maszlee was heard saying he had been helping the people for five years and told the man that his children and grandchildren would feel ashamed by such behaviour.

Another elderly man then approached Maszlee, telling the incumbent that he should know the law and to leave politics behind when visiting the centre.

Maszlee replied that he had been helping the people in the constituency for five years, which the man acknowledged.

The man, however, asked Maszlee what happened to the promises he made, to which Maszlee replied, solving the water woes in Simpang Renggam.

Maszlee said this is the “behaviour” of Umno, which further annoyed the man.

The man replied he did not wear an Umno shirt or was involved in politics.

Source:
courtesy of THE STAR

by MOHD FARHAAN SHAH

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