Kota Alam Shah assemblyperson M Manoharan has apologised for his tweets which many see as disparaging national shuttler Lee Chong Wei after his loss to China's Lin Dan in Sunday night's men's singles badminton finals of the London Olympics.
"I deeply regret the comments I have made and tender my heartfelt apologies to Dato' Lee Chong Wei and his family. I sincerely hope my apology will be accepted," Manoharan says in two tweets on microblog site Twitter .
His faux pas began soon after Lin Dan clinched the gold, when he tweeted: "Lin Dan wins. He played better than Lee Chong AWAY".
Manoharan then followed through by stating that Lin Dan had played better than his Malaysian counterpart and that anyone who thought otherwise was "talking nonsense".
Digging in further, he then berated the government for promising monetary rewards for athletes and snidely said that the cash prize should now be extended to the "poor boy Lin Dan".
The DAP representative’s tweets earned him brickbats from netizens, political leaders from both sides of the aisle and Malaysiakini commentators .
His apology came soon after DAP general-secretary Lim Guan Eng chastised Manoharan for his “totally insensitive” remarks regarding Lee’s defeat at the hands of Lin Dan.
Lim said Manoharan does not represent the party and that he is “totally alone” in his views, but he declined comment on whether the party would take any action against the assemblyperson.
Lim was responding to BN’s call for the DAP to take a clear stand on whether it agreed with Manoharan’s remarks.
Despite Manoharan’s vitriol, Chong Wei was given a hero’s welcome upon his arrival in the country today.
Lim also announced that Penang would present an award of RM100,000 to the shuttler for his efforts in representing the country and winning the silver medal for badminton in the Olympics.
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