JITRA: Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said there was no reason for him to apologise for referring to women as "betina" and that they were not suitable to become elected representatives.
Sanusi maintained that he is not sexist and that the accusations made against him were unfair as his statement was made within Sik's geographical and socio-economic context.
"The statement was taken out of context, it was made while I was speaking in my local village dialect.
"The talk was within the context of Sik and considering the geographical, socio economic, socio cultural, geopolitical, surface terrain, the attitude of rural folks and endless forestry, it is much suitable for a male candidate to be voted in Sik.
"That is just the truth, I'm not sexist. Sik requires a male elected representative" he told reporters after a Perikatan Nasional rally in Kodiang last night.
Sanusi lashed out on opposition party's calls for him to apologise for his remarks.
He claimed that opposition parties have run out of political arguments and have resorted to criticising his behaviour.
"I know the opposition in Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) are using my comments as a talking point.
"They have run out of ideas to talk about," he added.
Commenting further, he admitted that nowadays women are smarter that men in academic fields and there were more females in universities compared to men.
However, he insisted that although women are smarter, Sik still needs a man as their elected representative.
"It's not like what we have in Kuala Lumpur in the middle of the city which is suitable for women.
"I also admit that most intelligent people in universities are women right?
"However, in Sik, the member of parliament has to be a man," he said.
Previously, Barisan Nasional (BN) Merbok parliamentary seat candidate Datuk Shaiful Hazizy Zainol Abidin criticised Sanusi' for his remarks and his use of the word 'betina' (female) to refer to the BN Sik parliamentary seat candidate Maizatulakmam Othman @ Ibrahim.
He said that the word "betina" was not appropriate to use as it was often used for animals.