GERAKAN president Dominic Lau has refuted reports claiming that he was told to leave a PAS ceramah last night.

Lau said he had gone to the ceramah to meet PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

“I was there to meet him, but as the event ran late, I could not speak to him and had to leave,” he told reporters in George Town today.

“Abdul Hadi Awang asked to meet at 9pm at the Sungai Dua ceramah before the start of the event, but he ran late and was there around 10.30pm.

“As the ceramah had begun I could not speak to him.

“It is untrue that I was at any point asked to leave.”

Various news reports have said the Gerakan chief was told to leave a Perikatan Nasional (PN) ceramah in Tasek Gelugor, Penang last night.

The party was not invited to the event, but Lau was in attendance.

While other PN leaders were up on stage, Lau was waiting across from the stage with a group of PN supporters.

Lau, who is the PN’s candidate for the Bayan Lepas seat in Penang, said he had to leave without meeting Hadi as he had to return to the island.

“At the end of every day, we need to regroup and hold a meeting to plan out the next day.

“When we left the ceramah, it was almost 11pm,” he said.

PAS grassroots members had prior to nomination day last Saturday protested against Lau’s candidacy in Bayan Lepas.

They felt that Bayan Lepas was a Malay-majority seat and a candidate from the Islamist party should have been fielded. – August 2, 2023.