KUALA LUMPUR – Penang PAS secretary, Iszuree Ibrahim, has accused the media of manipulating and distorting the incident involving the ejection of Gerakan president Datuk Dominic Lau from a campaign rally in Bayan Lepas more than a week ago.
In a video posted on his Facebook, Iszuree, who also serves as the Bayan Lepas division chief, explained that raised voices during meetings are not uncommon and highlighted the noisy nature of the event.
He criticised journalists and media outlets for selectively editing and circulating the incident, portraying it in a negative manner to gain attention.
“What happened that day was an opportunity taken by journalists to hurt our (Perikatan Nasional’s) relationship.”
“What happened was a miscommunication. He (Lau) was not on the invitation list that night because the programme was held in a Malay-majority area,” he said.
“It cannot be denied that there were many people during the event, and maybe my tone was raised to explain to him what we were communicating.
“When (the Bayan Lepas) seat was given to Gerakan, (PAS) members were furious, so I advised him not to attend (the event) to maintain harmony.”
Sharing his history with Lau, who was his schoolmate, Iszuree said he and the Bayan Lepas candidate had never had disrespectful arguments during their discussions.
Iszuree claimed that the call to remove Lau from the event was for the safety of the public and to avoid a commotion from occurring.
However, the session’s moderator, Datuk Fariz Irwan Mustafa, was seen murmuring ahead of Iszuree’s speech, which seems to have been talking points for the latter.
Accompanying Iszuree during the session was PAS Supporters’ Congress (DHPP) member Steven Koh, who described the incident as psychological warfare by certain quarters to dampen the “wave of the people”.
Previously, a video of Lau being chased away from a PAS rally in Tasek Gelugor went viral. The clip saw Iszuree telling Lau to “go away”.
It was reported that Iszuree was initially the candidate for the state seat, but he was replaced by Lau following a decision from the Perikatan Nasional leadership. – August 9, 2023