KUALA LUMPUR: The younger brother of marital crisis-ridden film director Syamsul Yusof, Syafiq Yusof believes that his elder sibling is resilient enough to handle the domestic troubles that have gone public with his first wife, Puteri Sarah Liyana.
"Knowing abang, he is certainly a resilient man much like our father. Whatever the problem, abang will always find a solution and complete the job.
"I believe he is capable enough to handle the matter," he said when met at a Disney+ Hotstar screening event for his new TV series, Special Force: Anarchy.
The 30-year-old director who is also the son of famed producer, director and actor Datuk Yusof Haslam added that he was not aware of his brother's private life and marital affairs.
"We're both very busy people working on our own projects and abang works on large film productions.
"We hardly see each other since we live in separate houses and we have our own families.
The last time I talked to him was on the phone about two months ago.
"We don't hang out together and usually only meet up during Hari Raya so it was last year that I saw him in person.
"Being passionate about films our conversations usually just revolve around that and our new projects," he said.
When asked how he felt about the ongoing controversy that has blown up after Syamsul's online announcement on Jan 6 of his marriage to second wife Ira Kazar, Syafiq said that every family has problems.
"Every family in the world has problems. But these are private matters, so, if possible, family matters should remain private.
"However, I do understand that we are a family of artistes so that would attract a lot of attention," he said.
Syafiq added: "I have yet to meet her (Ira). And I'm not sure whether my parents have also met her in person."
The Abang Long Fadil director hopes that the ongoing online brouhaha will be solved soon.
"There's really not much that I can say except that I pray for the peace and happiness of my parents and family.
"Whatever the case, any sane person will be aware that not everything on the internet is true. There are lots of things that are mixed up and even more that could be called slanderous.
"Most importantly, I hope that Netizens will not make any false assumptions. I also hope that this issue is resolved quickly since I don't want the family's personal issues to continue to be the talk of the town," he said.