Muhyiddin defends statement on Guan Eng’s son
The DPM blames the media for spinning the issue with the aim of sowing enmity between him and Lim.
(Free Malaysia Today) – Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today defended his statement urging Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to lodge a police report to clear his 16-year-old son from allegations of sexual assault.
He also said his statement on the matter was “spun” by the alternative media like The Malaysian Insider.
Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, said his statement that a mere denial from Lim was insufficient to clear his son’s name carried no malice and that it was made only as a response from reporters from the said online news portal.
He suggested that the questions posed to him on the matter were sinister in nature and was aimed at sowing enmity between him and Lim.
“I know what he (Lim) feels, I have children too and I am against dragging families into politics,” he told Parliament during his ministry’s winding up speech on the 2012 Budget debate.
“The truth is I don’t really care about the allegations. I just said it in response to questions by reporters from the likes of The Malaysian Insider. My statement was spun,” he said, in response to queries made by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur).
Kit Siang, the grandfather of the teen that was accused of molesting his female schoolmate, had asked Muhyiddin if he trusted his own staff including the principal of the school who denied there was any sexual assault case involving Lim’s son.
The Ipoh Timur had criticised the DPM for saying “denial alone is not enough” to absolve his grandson from the allegation, calling it a violation to children’s rights to protection.
