PSB wants Tiong to personally apologise to Health DG over ‘takut mati’ remark

KUCHING: Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) is calling on Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing to make a proper personal apology to Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah over his recent ‘DG takut mati’ ( DG afraid of dying) remark in Parliament.

In a statement yesterday, it questioned the ‘ apology’ issued by Tiong on Sunday in which the Progressive Democratic Party president said he did not want to see the Dewan Rakyat sitting be disrupted by the remarks he had made.

PSB stressed that a personal apology to Dr Noor Hisham would show that Tiong was truly sorry for what he had said.

“In our opinion, that (did not want to disrupt the Dewan Rakyat sitting) is a poor excuse for an apology because he still did not apologise directly to Dr Noor Hisham for the hurt and damage he has tried to cause to the Health director-general’s reputation.

“Tiong only mentioned that he did not intend to deny the good deeds of the frontliners, including the Health director-general. Is that an apology to Dr Noor Hisham?” said PSB.

Tiong in his statement said he apologised if he went overboard when debating the Supply Bill 2021 last week and that he had no intention of denying the sacrifices of all frontliners including Dr Noor Hisham.

In defending Dr Noor Hisham, PSB said the director-general deserves to be hailed as a hero for his role in handling the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

“Compare the Malaysian pandemic situation to the rest of the world like Europe, United States or even Singapore, and we must realise that we are where we are in large part due to Dr Noor Hisham’s leadership of the Health Ministry.

“We trust that the Prime Minister will appreciate Dr Noor Hisham as much as the ordinary man in the street does.”

PSB had previously called for Tiong to either make a public apology to Dr Noor Hisham over the remark, or be sacked by the Prime Minister as the country’s special envoy to the People’s Republic of China.