JITRA, Nov 13 — Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has defended his recent statement that questioned the capability of women candidates in becoming the Sik Member of Parliament.

The PAS central election director said his statement was made in the context of geography and geopolitics of the constituency that required a male MP to represent it.

"My talk was in my dialect, the talk was in the context of Sik in the aspects of geography, socio-economy, socio-culture, geopolitics, terrain, resident behaviour, rural area, forest area and distance.

"The suitability of the candidate that should be voted in for Sik is a male candidate. That’s a fact, I’m not a sexist,” he told reporters after giving a talk in Padang Sera near here tonight.

On demands by certain parties that he would apologise over the statement, Muhammad Sanusi said those parties in question should understand the Sik dialect.

He admitted, however, under certain circumstances, women are far ahead compared to men, for instance in the number of women in tertiary education.

He had been reported to have questioned the suitability of women as MPs in Sik in previous talks, which resulted in a backlash from many parties. There is a three-corner fight for Sik, between Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman, Datuk Latipah Md Yatim (Pakatan Harapan (PH)) and Maizatulakmam Othman @ Ibrahim (Barisan Nasional (BN)).

Meanwhile, Muhammad Sanusi did apologise over Sik PAS youth chief Mohd Shahiful Mhd Nasir’s statement that voting for BN and PH would result in the voter "going to hell’.

"He has already apologised, he made a mistake and he said he was sorry. I also saw the video. I think many people make mistakes throughout their lives and Alhamdulillah Malaysians are very forgiving,” he added. — Bernama