Former minister apologises to AirAsia

To avoid a hefty lawsuit, former Malaysian information minister Zainuddin Maidin said he would carry an apology to AirAsia indefinitely on his blog for making an inflammatory statement about the Malaysian budget carrier.

Mr Zainuddin is willing to do this if it would make AirAsia not slap him with a RM5 million (S$1.92 million) suit, liberal news portal Malaysiakini reported.

Mr Zainuddin had written a blog post titled "Pork served on AirAsia flights, Muslims should hold off flying with the airline".

But pork is not served on all Malaysian airlines and Mr Zainuddin realised this only after he received a letter from AirAsia's lawyers about the post.

He first made the apology in a July 1 post.

The post reads: "After receiving the letters from AirAsia's lawyers, I realised that it gave the impression or picture as if pork was served in all AirAsia and AirAsia X flights.

"It is not true at all. I apologise for the damage caused."

In another apology on Sunday, Mr Zainuddin reiterates his apology, saying that he could not afford the lawsuit as he is currently living off his pension, Malaysian Insider reported.

The former Utusan Malaysia group editor adds that he trusts that airlines are sensitive to religious beliefs of all their passengers.

"AirAsia asked me to carry the apology to them for six months, but I will carry it for years to come, so that it reaches a wider circulation and provides information to future generations," his post states.

Get The New Paper for more stories.