KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s allegedly inappropriate comment to a female Form 6 student during a public forum was misunderstood, said Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.
In defending the prime minister, Fadhlina merely said that his comment was “misconstrued”, and did not entertain further questions from media members after an event she attended today, as reported by Free Malaysia Today.
Yesterday, the Pakatan Harapan chairman incited backlash from netizens for quippingly asking the student for her phone number while taking her question during a town hall session at a university in Negri Sembilan last week.
The 18-year-old student had asked the prime minister about his administration’s plans to combat the ringgit’s falling value, as well as the role played by the government and the younger generation in making Malaysia a first-class nation.
Based on recordings of the event posted by Astro Awani, Anwar then said in response : “I am proud of you, as you are able to ask your questions smartly at just Form 6.
“If I was younger, I would have asked for your phone number,” he added.
After this, the event moderator picked up on the prime minister’s quip by adding: “If Datuk Seri (Anwar) has the number, share it with me.”
Anwar then mentioned that he was joking, noting that his wife Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail “always watches (his live-streamed programmes)”.
After clips of the event recording made the rounds on social media, Bersatu’s legal and constitution bureau deputy chairman Sasha Lyna Abdul cited the prime minister’s behaviour as a “manifest example of sexism” and called for Anwar to apologise.
“What sort of example is the country’s prime minister setting for the youth of the nation? That it’s fine to ignore the intelligence and capacity of women, and instead treat them as an object of flirtation?” she said in a statement yesterday.
Expressing similar sentiments, Muda deputy president Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz took to Twitter to say that Anwar should apologise for his comments to set a good example for other men.
“Make them understand this behaviour is not okay, especially coming from someone (in a) position of power,” she said. – The Vibes, June 26, 2023
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