SIBU, June 19 — Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development I Dr Annuar Rapaee says it is unfair for anyone to link him to the ‘sexy’ dance controversy during a recent Gawai gathering here.
He said he had merely attended the function on the invitation of the organiser and had no control over what the organiser had planned for the event.
In this regard, he reckoned that those who had linked him to the event did so purely on political grounds with the intention of character assassination.
“The function and all the programmes were arranged by the organising committee headed by Joshua Ting from Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).
“Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Central Zone was invited and allocated 25 tables. I was given the task to invite guests from 18 Central Zone branches, and nearby branches were also invited.
“Therefore, to link me with the dance, which personally I did not have control over the type of stage performances the organiser wanted, is purely political and character assassination.
“I was only one of the invited guests for that night,” he clarified to The Borneo Post.
“Judge me as politician who attended the function as an invited guest. Let us not resort to character assassination in politics. You can condemn me if I don’t do my work to serve the people.”
Nevertheless, Dr Annuar said he sincerely apologised if he had done anything wrong when attending the event.
He also said he has instructed his personal assistant to scrutinise future function invitations that involved stage performances.
“This way, I will not be unnecessarily linked (to an event) merely for character assassination,” said the Nangka assemblyman.
PBB Bawang Assan chairman Romeo Christopher Tegong had in an earlier report said he believed the controversy over the ‘sexy’ dance performance at the Gawai gathering was instigated by people trying to gain political mileage, by intentionally harping on unnecessary matters. — Borneo Post
