Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s apology to the sultan of Johor and his subjects today shows that he had done something wrong, said the prime minister.

najib umno post mt meeting pc 300911 Speaking after the Umno supreme council meeting in Kuala Lumpur today, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said that Lim cannot run away from what he did as there is an audio recording of the statement.

“We have the recording, it is difficult for him to deny it. If he denies it, then believe me, he would not make an apology,” he said.

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, earlier today apologised to the sultan of Johor and his subjects for offending them through his remarks.

He had allegedly said at a luncheon with foreign correspondents in Singapore in August that Singaporeans are more likely to get kidnapped in Johor and that the crime rate there is high.

Umno ‘more open’ to the press

The chief minister made a public apology at a press conference today, but had asked TV3 to leave the room  and for other media to not share their footage of the apology with the BN-linked broadcaster for fear his words will be “twisted”.

Commenting on this, the premier said that in contrast Umno was more open and had even allowed ‘hostile’ media such as Malaysiakini to attend their press conference today.

“(Lim) chooses his media, but Umno is today open and allows everyone to attend including media organisations that are not friendly to Umno,” he said.

The BN anchor party has consistently barred the portal from covering the post-supreme council meeting since late last year and barred its reporters from the media room at the last Umno general assembly.

In a surprise move today, Malaysiakini and several other online news portals were allowed to attend the weekly press conference.

Namewee should be supported

On a separate matter, the PM brushed aside a question on whether he will accept the request by controversial rapper-cum-filmmaker Namewee for a meeting. 

Instead, Najib said that Namewee should be supported as the latter “is a supporter of 1Malaysia”.

NONE He also encouraged Namewee, who gained notoriety through his song Negarakuku and has recently faced protests for his film Nasi Lemak 2.0, to continue to express his views.

The premier declined comment on Namewee’s recent video, where he lambasts Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia for criticising Nasi Lemak 2.0 .

“We have our differences. (Namewee) has his different ways,” he said of the film which was refused a government grant as the filmmaker purportedly did not adhere to Malaysian values. 

He added that the government did not ban the ‘ Undilah ’ public service announcement video, featuring Namewee, which encourages people to register to vote.

“We don’t ban things like this. It is up to the respective TV stations (if they want to air it),” he said.

Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim yesterday said that video is offensive to certain segments of society and contains “ subliminal messages ”.

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Penang CM apologises for Johor crime remark

Johor sultan offended by Guan Eng's comments

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