Gerakan’s Lau denies he was asked to leave PAS ceramah

GEORGE TOWN: The Perikatan Nasional candidate for Bayan Lepas, Datuk Dr Dominic Lau, has denied reports that he was asked to leave a PAS ceramah in Sungai Dua on mainland Penang.

The Gerakan president said he was at the venue in the Malay heartland to meet PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang.

“I was there to meet him but as the event was running late, I could not speak to him and had to leave. He (Abdul Hadi) asked to meet at 9pm at the Sungai Dua ceramah before it began, but he was held up and arrived around 10.30pm.

“As the ceramah had begun, I could not speak with him,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Lau said although Gerakan was not invited to the PAS ceramah, he was not asked to leave either.

“When we left the ceramah, it was almost 11pm,” he said.

However, a video that has gone viral saw Lau being told by a PAS leader that he had not been invited and should “go away”.

In the video clip, Lau can been seen being accompanied by PAS vice-president Datuk Idris Ahmad who then walks away.

Lau said later that he had since spoken to Abdul Hadi.

“It is untrue that I was, at any point, asked to leave,” he insisted.

Lau faces incumbent Azrul Mahathir Aziz from Pakatan Harapan in the Bayan Lepas seat.

It was earlier reported that the PAS grassroots had considered boycotting the polls after Lau was fielded to contest the seat, which has a 64% Malay-majority.

Local PAS leaders said the party had been doing the groundwork there for years and would not accept Lau, who they claim was a “parachute” candidate.

Just before the final list of Perikatan candidates was released, the coalition’s secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin issued a statement confirming Lau’s candidacy.