KUALA LUMPUR: Popular singer Noraniza Idris has denied any intention to provoke enmity with Malaysia’s No.1 singer, Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza, and her legion of fans on Instagram.
The irama Malaysia artiste, fondly known as Kak Ani, explained that her recent upload of a photo with the late Datuk Sudirman Arshad, who she called the country’s “No.1 singer”, was just a sign of respect towards the iconic figure.
In a news report yesterday, the 51-year-old singer said: “I really had no intention at all to provoke anyone, rather to show my appreciation to Allahyarham and to share a memory of being with him when he was still alive.”
“The old photo was sent over by a friend of mine. So I thought, why not share the old picture since it was not in my collection yet. Furthermore, it was on my own Instagram account.”
Noraniza added that she was disappointed by the behaviour of certain fans of artistes that purposely stir up unnecessary trouble by writing extreme and negative comments.
“Honestly, I’m disappointed by some fans who just like to inflame a situation, since what I had written was just me sharing a personal and harmless moment on social media.”
“But I don’t blame any particular artiste whenever they have fans that can be extreme by frequently posting negative comments towards other artistes. To me, that just mirrors their behaviour as fans,” she said.
When asked about her relationship with Siti, Noraniza explained that she had no problem at all with the popular songstress.
“There’s nothing between me and Siti. I’m actually quite tired of making a comment because someone might just use that to badmouth me by saying that I’m just using this to gain cheap publicity.”
"I just don’t like to argue with kids. This is not a game to me,” she said.
Noraniza also made it clear that not all who had commented negatively on that particular Instagram post were actually fans of Siti herself and that there were also many who owned false accounts.
“There were those from false accounts who had commented on my Instagram. When I explored them there were no pictures at all. There were also Siti fans who informed me that those were not from their actual fan group,” she said.
Noraniza had recently posted a picture of herself with Sudirman, as well as another which was a cartoon caricature of the two together that the late, great artiste had drawn.
In the photo, she had referred to Sudirman as, “Malaysia’s No.1 entertainer and No.1 singer, who would always be the No.1 icon in her heart.”