Penang Umno liaison committee deputy chief Musa Sheikh Fadzir is seeking an apology from two Chinese language dailies over their ‘false’ reports on his speech during the recent party annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

NONE Musa ( left ), who is Bukit Mertajam division chief, wants Kwong Wah Jit Poh and Guang Ming Daily to apologise to him, Penang Umno and Barisan Nasional component parties, for their front page reports on Dec 3.

According to the veteran politician, the reports had published “lies” in an attempt to cause division between the BN component parties by quoting him as suggesting that Umno should contest in all BN seats in Penang as its partners - MCA and Gerakan - lost all the seats that they had contested in the last polls.

He vehemently denied that he had suggested that those seats where BN had lost in the previous general election be handed over to Umno to contest.

He also denied saying that only Umno candidates participate in the coming polls, which may be called as early as in the first quarter of next year.

Musa said he had called for the press conference to correct the reports but does not want to make enemies with the media, which he considers as “friends and family”.

“On Dec 2, during my speech, I touched on current issues facing Penang Umno. But the next day, I received many calls from other component parties asking me whether I had suggested that only Umno should take part in the coming GE,” he told reporters in Penang today.

“I am shocked with the reports and I deny I said such things as reported by the newspapers,” he added.

‘BN component parties are good friends’

Musa said Penang Umno has always maintained a good relationship with other component parties in the BN.

He added that he treasured the friendships among the BN parties, and this relationship would continue to be strong in the future.

NONE He stressed that he was grateful that those in BN had called to ask him about the matter instead of reacting before finding out the truth.

“I see that this is an effort by certain quarters to try and cause a rift between me and others in BN. I condemn this act,” he said.

Other than an apology, Musa wants the two dailies to publish the correction on the front pages of the newspapers.

He is giving the duo seven days to retract the report, issue a correction and apologise, failing which legal action would ensue.