IPOH: Perak PAS commissioner Razman Zakaria has apologised to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for his comments linking the latter with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) culture.
The apology was made at the Taiping High Court yesterday.
Anwar’s lawyer Datuk Sankara Nair confirmed that the apology was made in open court before judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin.
Sankara said his client has accepted the apology.
In his apology, Razman, who is the Gunong Semanggol assemblyman, said his remarks in one of his speeches made during the 15th General Election campaign had offended and impinged directly on Anwar’s moral turpitude and good reputation.
“This had caused you considerable and immeasurable embarrassment, damage and distress,” he said.
“I take this opportunity to withdraw, and retract all the aspersions, and imputations cast upon you, and express my sincere regret, and profuse apology for such utterances.”
Razman also said he would never repeat the above remarks in any form or manner in the future.
Anwar filed the defamation lawsuit on Dec 5, naming Razman as the sole defendant.
Based on the statement of claim, Anwar had said that on Nov 6 last year, the defendant had spoken about the matter during the elections campaign 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 till 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.
