KUCHING: Dr Annuar Rapaee says it is unfair to link him with the recent dance controversy during a Gawai gathering in Sibu.
The Sarawak Deputy Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister clarified that he was merely attending the function at the invitation of the event organiser.
“The function and all the programmes were arranged by the organising committee headed by Joshua Ting from Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).
“Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Central Zone was invited and allocated 25 tables. I was given the task to invite the guests from 18 branches from the Central Zone and nearby branches were also invited.
“Therefore, to link me with the sexy dance, which personally I did not have any control over stage performances the organiser wanted, is purely political and character assassination. I was only one of the guests for that night,” he said in a statement.
The Nangka assemblyman added: “Judge me as a politician, who attended the function as an invited guest. Let us not resort to character assassination in politics.”
He went on to say that people could condemn him if he did not do his work to serve the people.
“I also seek apology if I had done wrong for attending this function. And I have instructed my personal assistant to scrutinise future functions that involved stage performances.
“In that way, I will not be unnecessarily linked (to an event) merely for character assassination.”
Meanwhile, Bawang Assan PBB chairman Romeo Christopher Tegong believed that the controversy had been instigated by some people trying to gain political mileage by intentionally harping on unnecessary matters that could cause confusion.
