Mat Sabu denies Kedah MB’s claim his ministry cancelled a state breaking fast event
KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu has denied that his ministry was responsible for cancelling an event with Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor at the Malaysian Agricultural Expo Park (MAEPS) in Serdang, Selangor.
He said Muhammad Sanusi’s claim that the cancellation of the ‘Majlis Berbuka Puasa Anak-Anak Kedah Di Perantauan Bersama Menteri Besar Kedah’ event on April 9 was “puzzling”.
“I find it odd when the Kedah MB (Muhammad Sanusi) said that the event’s approval was withdrawn by the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry as the venue’s management had yet to even approve the event.
“The management had yet to agree to the event and issue an acceptance letter or even provide a quotation,” said Mohamad in a Facebook posting last night.
He was responding to Muhammad Sanusi’s claim yesterday that the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry was responsible for the event’s cancellation through the withdrawal of the venue at MAEPS.
Mohamad, who is the Kota Raja MP, added that it did not make sense for Muhammad Sanusi to prematurely distribute the event’s poster before receiving confirmation of the venue.
“Usually, the programme’s poster is distributed upon confirmation of the event,” said the politician who is popularly known as Mat Sabu.
The MAEPS management comes directly under the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi), which is in turn a government-linked agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
Mohamad also denied any political bias in providing venue rentals for events.
“For your information YAB, we did not have any problems with the Anak Terengganu event held at MAEPS.
“Since YAB had said that the Kedah event will be held at another venue, we won’t mind at all,” said Mohamad, who used initials for the Malay honorific title for a menteri besar denoting Muhammad Sanusi.
Politically, Mohamad is the Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) president under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) ruling government, while Sanusi belongs to PAS which is part of the Opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.
Both the Kedah and Terengganu state governments are ruled by PAS, who holds the majority representing PN.
Yesterday, Muhammad Sanusi insisted there is a Cabinet directive barring him from events organised by the federal government.
He said this included being barred from events, including the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2023 (LIMA ‘23) to be held this May.
Muhammad Sanusi also claimed that the directive was the latest decision taken by the Cabinet under the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership.
