PAS central committee member Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said reports alleging that he was hit during the party's central committee meeting on Sunday were "speculative" in nature.

The Malaysian Insider had reported that Perak PAS commissioner Razman Zakaria allegedly hit Hanipa on the back twice, following a shouting match.

Hanipa ( left ), however, did not confirm nor deny the report, saying that he had "no responsibility" to do so.

"Reports on the matter, including The Malaysian Insider's report, are speculative in nature and I have no responsibility to confirm them," he said in a statement today.

The Sepang MP explained that as a central committee member, it was "not proper" for him to reveal what had happened during the the central committee meeting as it was an internal matter.

He nevertheless said that both he and PAS could not prevent any speculation from being made by anyone, adding that "truth cannot be replaced by speculation".

"On the allegation that I was hit by Razman, I do not know the source of it.

"Razman is a good friend of mine, so how can he do such a thing as to hit me," he said.

'Not out of the ordinary'

On the report that he had reprimanded PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang during the meeting, Hanipa said it was not something out of the ordinary as PAS never prevented its central committee members from reprimanding their president, the same way that the president can reprimand his subordinates as well.

"Based on my experience in the central committee, the party president can still accept criticism no matter how harsh.

"If anyone in PAS thinks that criticism made against any party leaders cannot be allowed, I believe this is not from the teachings of Islam and goes against the PAS convention practised throughout the years.

"If the president can accept criticism, it does not make sense that the president will allow the practice of hitting central committee members, if we assume that the speculation is indeed true," he said.

The alleged argument had happened when Hanipa asked Abdul Hadi if action would be taken against the faction who had staged a protest accusing Kuala Krai MP Hatta Ramli of being involved in a conspiracy to oust Hadi.

After Hadi denied any knowledge of the protest, Hanipa had said: "This is the problem when the president is weak and not the president of all", at which point Razman then allegedly walked towards Hanipa and hit him on the back twice.