It is pretty common for a question to be left unanswered, especially if you’re a journalist seeking the truth.
Recently, a netizen on Twitter has taken to his account and shared a video of Idris Ahmad, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Batu Gajah and the vice president of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) getting into an alleged verbal confrontation with a reporter.
Kaki buli. Apa punya Menteri Agama daaaaa. pic.twitter.com/ViYeWj0NFE
— PakYob Kayuh (@YobKayuh) November 15, 2021
In the video, before the reporter even managed to finish her question on the closure of gaming outlets in Kedah, she was interjected by the MP of Pendang, Dato Haji Awang Hashim who asked her to speak in the Malay language since they are all Malaysians.
“You ask in Bahasa Melayu lah. We’re in Malaysia right? Speak in Bahasa lah.”
Taken aback, the reporter says,
“Please don’t do that to me. You can always say properly.”
In response, the VP said,
“You can also properly ask the question, you know?”
“If you want me to respect you, then you must respect us first,” Awang said after highlighting on the reporter’s attitude.
The reporter then proceed to raise her question in Malay, as requested, only to have another question posed back towards her.
“Would you agree if your husband is a gambler?” Idris asked, refusing to answer the reporter’s question.
She did not answer the question from Idris as she found it irrelevant, but he insisted on not answering her questions before she did.
The video went viral, amassing over 599,200 views, as netizens are outraged about such ‘gangster’ behaviour.
“The reporter asked properly already what. Kenapa macam nak cari gaduh je?” one commenter said.
“I think they just wanted to deflect and not answer the question je kot LOL,” another user wrote.
“Some people here thinks that the issue is speaking in Bahasa Melayu. No. These 2 are leaders in Malaysia. But this is the behaviours that are demonstrated? I’m ashamed to see people like this representing our country,” one chimed in.
Idris refuses to apologise as he feels nothing wrong was done
This matter was brought up in the parliament yesterday (15 November) by Batu Gajah MP, V Sivakumar who had asked Idris to apologize for the incident that involved him and the reporter at an event that took place on Sunday (14 November).
“I would advice him to publicly apologize to the reporter and her family,” he calmly suggested as he also felt the language used by Awang was a bit harsh.
Sivakumar also expressed that the matter could have been avoided as the reporter was merely carrying out her duty of seeking the truths and there is nothing wrong with asking a question.
As a reply to Sivakumar, Idris stated that there were no provocative elements in this matter before immediately taking his seat again.
Do you think they were harsh to the reporter? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Also read: “Go Penang if you want to buy 4D” Kedah MB Announces State-Wide Lottery Shop Ban
