PAS has defended Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, claiming that a news portal’s report was the main trigger behind the controversy surrounding his recent remarks.
PAS Information Chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari alleged that the portal used selective excerpts from Sanusi’s speech, resulting in a misleading narrative that created a negative public perception of the party leader.
According to Ahmad Fadhli, the report interpreted Sanusi’s remarks as suggesting that Malaysia was solely the homeland of the indigenous Malay community, while Chinese and Indian Malaysians had other countries they could regard as their ancestral homes.
He said it was this editorial interpretation, rather than Sanusi’s actual words, that led many to believe the Kedah Menteri Besar was questioning the place of Malaysian citizens of Chinese and Indian descent in the country.
Sanusi had previously been reported as saying during a political ceramah in Jempol that Malays did not have another homeland, while Indians, Chinese, Cambodians and Thais each had countries associated with their respective ethnic groups.
Ahmad Fadhli argued that the report failed to present the full context of Sanusi’s speech, including its discussion on the history of Malaya, Malay political and economic interests, and the need for cooperation between PAS and UMNO.
He added that the full recording showed Sanusi also spoke about Malays living peacefully alongside Malaysia’s multi-ethnic communities and not interfering with Chinese businesses operating in Malay-majority areas.
To resolve the issue, Ahmad Fadhli proposed three steps: for the news portal to clarify the context of its report, for Sanusi to personally explain what he meant, and for the public to watch the full speech before drawing conclusions.
He stressed that while media freedom must be protected, it should also be accompanied by accuracy, context and accountability. Likewise, he said political freedom should be exercised with careful and responsible language, warning that both unbalanced headlines and careless remarks could easily spark misunderstandings in Malaysia’s multicultural society.
