KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 – Is Kedah’s Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Nor lying about not being invited to the Madani Aidilfitri Open House to be held at a hotel in Kedah on Sunday, April 29?
Or perhaps he had overlooked the invitation sent to him on April 25th by the organisers of the event?
Whichever the case, the highly controversial MB seemed to be courting yet another controversy with his claims that he had not been issued an official invitation to the event. Speaking to reporters during the Aidilfitri Open House hosted by him on Thursday, he said he has not received any official invitation to the event as protocol dictated and that even a non-official invitation would not have been a problem.
Meanwhile, a posting on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Facebook has displayed the invitation sent out to Sanusi on April 25 and also the news report on April 27 of Sanusi’s dissatisfaction for not being invited.
It remains to be seen whether the MB will attend the Madani Aidifitri Open House in Kedah this Sunday.
Plans for the Hari Raya open house, which is usually held at the prime minister’s official residence in Putrajaya alone, took on a change this year with the prime minister announcing that it will be also held in six states, namely Kedah (April 29), Penang (May 6), Negri Sembilan (May 7), Kelantan (May 12), Terengganu (May 13) and Selangor (May 14).
Since then, the Opposition parties have taken to questioning, criticising and doubting the sincerity of the open house, a concept uniquely Malaysian in the celebration of all major festivals in the country, where people just join in the feast together with the leaders following an open invitation.
On the other hand, many have commended the move, saying that it was a celebration of the Malaysia’s multicultural ways.
–WE