PKR’s Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Mohd Yusuff, who reportedly demanded for the Penang Chief Minister’s post to be rotated among all races, went through his own rotating door yesterday.

This time, he accused the press for fabricating a piece of false news, and blamed it on Berita Harian, the Umno mouthpiece he chose to talk to over the controversial suggestion.

“No, I did not make the rotation demand. I just talked about how Hari Raya was celebrated by all races,” he told vernacular newspapers China Press and Kwong Wah Jit Poh yesterday.

Damage has been done, nonetheless.

Karpal: “Don’t let PKR junior rock the boat”

Both Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider carried a public tick-off by DAP chief Karpal Singh on someone whom he called as a “minor official in PKR” to rock the boat using the party youth’s platform.

Karpal, who is the MP for Bukit Gelugor, questioned if Yusmadi had been given the “mandate” to speak for Anwar Ibrahim’s party, PKR.

As such, he wanted Anwar, who is the MP for Permatang Pauh and Opposition Leader, to step in and “clear the air” over this issue.

Karpal insisted that Anwar must “make sure that no minor official in PKR” makes any further claims that would strain the ties among the three PR partners.

Karpal also supported the stand of Penang DAPSY, DAP’s youth wing, and emphasised that since DAP had the majority in Penang, it deserved to be the chief minister of the state.

He pointed out that DAP had likewise not tried to demand for the Selangor mentri besar’s post because PKR deserved to hold it by having won the highest number of seats in Selangor in the general elections last year.

However, the Rashomon versions of the truth can’t be established as clearly as black and white.

Media sources told Screenshots that the Berita Harian story was a one-on-one telephone interview between Yusmadi and Berita Harian‘s Faiza Zainudin, a Penang-based journalist newly transferred to KL. Either one can deny to his/her advantage.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS… Instead of pressing the denial button, the right things for the PKR man to do are: ( 1 ) to proactively inform and clarify to all Pakatan Rakyat leaders about the “misreporting” before mistrust arises; and ( 2 ) to demand his right of reply from Berita Harian to make a retraction or a correction.

Or, the easiest, simply zip up the loose cannon.