ALOR STAR: Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor today denied that he had demanded that the Federal Constitution be amended to reclaim Penang, claiming that this was misreported by a news portal.
Sanusi insisted that he was merely asking for a review of the annual leasing for Penang to reflect the current market value.
"They accused me of going against the Federal Constitution. Since when is asking for current market value is something against the Constitution?
"They accused me of calling for an amendment (of the Constitution). I did not say that. I never said such a thing anywhere.
"I said there are only two things in this world that you can't amend: the Quran and Hadiths (Prophet Muhammad's sayings). I never asked for the Constitution to be amended," he said after having his statement recorded by three policemen from the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman who arrived at Wisma Darul Aman here today.
Police have launched investigations following four police reports lodged against Sanusi, including a report filed by Bagan member of parliament Lim Guan Eng, who is DAP chairman.
As such, claimed Sanusi, the issue, which was hotly debated in Dewan Rakyat yesterday, deviated from what he had said.
"It was their mistake to quote the news report, which was wrong, to be debated in Parliament yesterday, and all of them were referring to that error (in the news report).
"They should have referred to me directly... I can explain it to them. But, they quoted from the Free Malaysia Today news portal, which reported that I purportedly urged to amend the Constitution so that Penang could be returned to Kedah," he said.
Sanusi added that government leaders should have used proper communications channels to seek clarification on official matters.
"They have my mobile number. They could have asked me directly to seek clarification.
"Since when can a news portal be used as a reference point by the government? I never said such a thing, but Lim Guan Eng referred to the portal, and the prime minister referred to the portal.
"But I am not blaming the prime minister. The one at fault is the former Penang chief minister (Lim), who asked the question (in Parliament) by referring to the portal. Why did they entertain (the portal report)?," he said.
Commenting further, Sanusi said the Kedah government was seeking the current RM10 million and RM10,000 annual leasing for Penang paid by the Federal government to Kedah to be reviewed to RM100 million, as reported earlier.
"That was the main issue I mentioned when the police recorded my statement. I presented the leasing documents, payments that we have received from the leasing and agreements signed earlier," he said, adding that police had asked five questions and took about half an hour to record his statement.
Sanusi further claimed that DAP was using the narrative that Kedah was demanding to reclaim Penang to scare its supporters in Penang.
"Taking back means we want to repossess something that was lost. To me, it was never lost because we are still getting the leasing payment.
"DAP is using the narrative to scare its supporters, and if they don't support DAP, the state (Penang) will be reclaimed by Kedah.
"This is the DAP style of politics to instil fear, particularly among the Chinese. That's why we must reject DAP. Malaysia will not be at peace if DAP wins (in an election)," he said.