KUCHING: The Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) yesterday reiterated its statement of disappointment with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) for breaking a promise not to hold a press conference.
ACS secretary-general Ambrose Linang denied a report by news portal Malaysian Insider (MI) that the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) had misquoted him regarding the statement.
“When I was contacted by MI this morning (yesterday), I told them exactly what I told Bernama about the meeting held with leaders of the opposition parties yesterday (Thursday).
“What Bernama, The Star and The Borneo Post reported, were accurate. Even my Bishop called me up to say that he was happy with the reports,” he told Bernama yesterday.
In the article titled ‘DAP refutes Pakatan reneged on promise to Sarawak church leaders’, MI reported that Ambrose said he was ‘misquoted’ by the agency.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary-general Lim Guan Eng was quoted in the article as denying that opposition parties had breached their promise to the ACS by speaking to the media after the closed-door meeting.
In her blog, DAP Wanita national secretary Teresa Kok said: “ACS leaders were aware that the media were waiting outside the venue. They never forbade us from speaking to the media.”
On Thursday, ACS expressed regret that DAP, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leaders held a press conference on the association’s meeting with them.
Ambrose said the breakfast meeting was held behind closed doors after the opposition coalition agreed to ACS’ request not to hold a press conference regarding it.
“Our association received an invitation from Selangor state executive councillor Teresa Kok of PKR (sic) to have a breakfast meeting with the leaders of these opposition parties and agreed on the condition that political issues would not be discussed as we are non-partisan.
“Shortly after the meeting we left. However, we were disappointed to learn that these leaders held a press conference later,” he said.
The association, Ambrose said, would study the statements made at the press conference for political elements.
“We are open to discussions with any party just like what we had with the Prime Minister yesterday (Wednesday). However, we expect people whom we meet to keep their word,” he added.