Terengganu Menteri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang should be more open-minded with regard to negative press reports about his government, a state opposition leader said today.

Barisan Nasional state representative Rasol Wahid said Hadi should treat such reports as important feedback to enable the PAS state government to better serve the people of Terengganu.

"As someone who is looked upon as an ulama (cleric), Hadi should not go to the extent of [comparing reporters with] monkeys and squirrels. He should instead become more proactive and react to their reports positively," said Rasol, who represents the Ajil constituency.

He was commenting on a Malay daily report last week which quoted Hadi as saying: "What kind of persons are they (reporters)? Even monkeys and squirrels know how to look for good fruit and avoid the rotten ones... but they (reporters) are instead only looking for bad things [to report]."

Pressure from members

During one of his dialogue sessions with the state officials recently, Hadi reportedly said the mainstream reporters attended official functions merely to dig for dirt and are prone to highlight them "no matter how small they are".

Hadi, who is also PAS deputy president, alleged that the reporters even go to the extent of creating false news if they couldn't find anything bad to report on.

Rasol, however, defended the reporters saying that they were merely doing their job to inform PAS members in the state who are keen to know how state and party funds are being spent.

"I was told that this has been the main topic in most of the meet-the-people sessions organised by the state government. Even PAS members are now questioning openly the state government spending during those sessions," he said, adding that Hadi and his government are now facing extreme pressure from the members.