Halimaton Saadiah denies calling media reports 'lies' despite documented proof
SHAH ALAM: Barisan's Kota Damansara assemblyman Halimaton Saadiah Bohan (pic) found herself in a tight spot when reporters confronted her over her comment made in the assembly Thursday that media reports were "lies". Halimaton had interrupted Tiew Way Keng (Teratai-DAP) who was debating on the goods and services tax (GST) saying many newspapers had run stories about the hardship faced by people due to the new tax. Halimaton asked Tiew which newspapers she was referring to, to which she replied China Press, Nanyang Siang Pau, Sinar Harian and The Star. "If it's like that, like from China Press, they are all lies,'' she allegedly said.
However, when confronted by a group of reporters Friday demanding her explanation, Halimaton denied she had called the media liars. "That is not what I meant. What I actually meant was that the reports were confusing,'' she said. She maintained she did not call the media liars even when the reporters told her they had copies of her statement from the Hansard. China Press reporter Kek Chin Lee said Halimaton's outburst was unacceptable. "Her explanation is unacceptable because there is a big difference between the words lie and confusing,'' said Kek. Online news portal laksou.com assistant news editor Tang Hui Junn, said Halimaton's comments were irresponsible. "We want her to take responsibility and admit to what she had really said instead of trying to cover-up,'' she said. This is not the first time Halimaton has courted controversy. In 2013 during a state assembly session, she was almost referred to the Rights and Privileges Committee for allegedly misleading the assembly. Halimaton had said her constituents were finding it difficult after the rental of their government low cost flats had been increased from RM124 to RM250 since June that year. It was then revealed the rental was in actual fact raised in 2007 and not in 2013 as alleged. She was then told to retract her statement but the first term assemblyman refused to do so. She retracted the statement the following day after she was told she would be referred to the Committee for creating ill intent by misleading the house if she was adamant in her refusal to retract.
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Post time 4-4-2015 04:26 PM
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