Published on: Monday, May 24, 2004 |
Kota Kinabalu: Umno Kota Kinabalu pro tem chairman, Haji Roselan Johar Mohamed, expressed regret and tendered his apology to all, especially women, who were offended with his remarks.
Please accept my humblest apology. My best intention had been misconstrued or misinterpreted, he said in a statement Sunday.
He explained that the particular phrase was a proverb he took from Confucius and that an official speech text had been distributed to the press covering the seminar.
In addition, Roselan said he had in the end of his speech pleaded for forgiveness if he had said something offensive to them.
I did apologise for the remark. It could be in bad taste but I did not mean it to sound like that, he said, adding the remarks were also off-the-cuff in parallel with his text of speech.
Roselan said sexual crimes are heinous crimes and that he shares the belief of others that the offence warrants stiff punishment.
Salwa President Fatmah Wattie Haji Abu Bakar was reported on Sunday complaining about the remarks made by Roselan during his closing ceremony speech of the Legal Literacy Seminar for Women, at Wisma SESB, here, on Saturday.
Fatmah was reported as saying that she and several other guest speakers at the seminar were stunned to hear Roselan stating, among others, that if you cannot fight rape, better lay down and enjoy it.
