KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4: PAS needs to stop its dirty tactics and the spread of false narratives in its continuous moves to attack Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, said DAP’s National Publicity Secretary Teo Nie Ching.
It is pathethic to see PAS desperately continuing to seek cheap publicity with false narratives and claims while it proudly pounds its chest with its claim of a “Green Wave”.
In a statement issued here today, Nie Ching, who is also Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital, took PAS to task, condemning its recent statement via its media organ, Harakah, that the iconic 1998 photograph of Anwar, with a black eye, addressing his supporters with a raised hand, was an edited work.
“This is nothing but a stunt to raise the profile of Datuk Seri Hj Sanusi Md Nor, who mimicked the raised hand gesture during his court appearance recently. Harakah’s action is childish and an embarrassment to the journalism profession,” she said.
The reformacy movement in 1998 as well as the case of a swollen-eyed Anwar had garnered international coverage and had been witnessed by thousands of supporters, although there was no social media or sufficient internet reach back then, she said.
The action of Harakah and PAS to use the case as a political point to attack the legacy of the reformacy movement, which they themselves had participated back then, is shameful and an insult to the memory of the late Ustaz Fadzil Noor. The then PAS President had stood along the front row of the reformists, she said.
“Is it that easy for PAS to try and change history just to garner points in the social media, that they are willing to tell a lie and call it an exclusive revelation?”
Nie Chin also said they should also be aware now that media practitioners can now check and verify facts quickly. The photo has since been verified and confirmed to have been taken by photographer Ed Wray from Associated Press, she said.
It has been also confirmed by many other reporters and photographers who had covered the event back then, she added.
It is only proper for Harakah to apologise to the media, she said.
“Harakah should also make an open apology to Anwar Ibrahim as well as to all Malaysians for attempting to make a fool of them.”
— WE