IPOH: Perak PAS commissioner Razman Zakaria has apologised to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the Taiping High Court for linking the Prime Minister to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) culture.
Anwar’s lawyer Datuk Sankara Nair confirmed this, and said the apology was made in open court before Judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin on Thursday (Feb 9) and added that his client has accepted the apology.
In his apology, Razman - who is the Gunung Semanggol assemblyman - said his remarks in one of his speeches during the 15th General Election campaign had offended and impinged directly on Anwar’s moral values and good reputation.
“This had caused you (Anwar) considerable and immeasurable embarrassment, damage and distress. I take this opportunity to withdraw, and retract the statements made, and express my sincere regret, and profuse apology for such utterances,” he said.
Razman further said that he would never repeat the above remarks in any form or manner in the future.
Anwar had filed the lawsuit on Dec 5, naming Razman as the sole defendant.
Based on the statement of claim, Anwar had said that the defendant had spoken about the matter during the elections campaign on Nov 6 at the Teluk Pancur night market.
He claimed the speech was broadcast live on Razman’s Facebook under the username "Haji Razman Zakaria" and was viewed more than 94,400 times, received over 5,100 reactions, 429 shares and over 2,600 comments up to today.
According to the PKR president, the live video broadcast was later published through an article dated Nov 6, 2022, in Malay and English and uploaded on a news portal.
The Tambun Member of Parliament said the defamatory statements were made to ruin his reputation, adding that the allegations in the article were untrue as he had always championed Islamic teachings and values.
