KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — The political secretary of the Environment and Water Minister Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man criticised the media today, urging members of the press to report accurate facts over the minister’s remarks on Kelantan water issues.

Mohd Zuhdi Marsuki, who is also a PAS Central Committee member, had in a statement today sought to clarify media reports quoting the minister concerning Kelantan’s water issues, in which he was allegedly to have said would take 30 to 40 years to solve.

It was also mentioned that the Environment and Water Ministry is looking for an RM7 billion allocation from funds under the 12th Malaysia Plan to address the matter.  

Mohd Zuhdi today clarified that such reports were the product of misinterpretation on the part of reporters, pointing out that the minister had actually said that efforts to solve Kelantan’s water woes would hopefully see the state be free of such worries for the next 30 to 40 years.

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“However, it is regrettable when there are news portals that publish reports which have deviated, mentioning that the water issues of Kelantan would only be solved in the next 30 to 40 years.

“Reporters are supposed to report the news with common knowledge; that the period of implementation for the 12th Malaysian Plan (the RM7 billion allocation being sought) is between 2021 to 2025, and not in the coming 30 to 40 years,” he wrote in the statement today.

Mohd Zuhdi added that such inaccurate reports have since caused mass confusion among the public, even going as far as to sway opinions of former deputy ministers and professors.

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“By right, when a reporter or editor is not clear with what was meant by the minister, they can immediately direct questions and seek for a clarification during the press conference itself, or refer to the minister press secretary or the ministry’s corporate communications department.

“Once again I plead to all media practitioners including editors and reporters to be more careful when publishing news reports by enquiring further if they are unclear with what was mentioned by a minister during a press conference,” he said.

This after Tuan Ibrahim, who is deputy president of PAS, was on the receiving end of backlash by state leaders in Kelantan that is administered by the Islamist party, following reports claiming water woes within the state would take up to four decades to solve.

Among those who made their opinions known was Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) president Datuk Ibrahim Ali, who slammed the minister for his response, putting it down as ‘clever excuses’ by the federal minister.