KOTA KINABALU: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin (pic) is not taking lightly a Facebook posting alluding that he has forgotten the customs and values of his ethnic Iranun community.

Pandikar, in a posting on Thursday, has given the Facebook user “Dewi Sukma” a week to apologise for her posting or he would take her to the native court and also lodge a complaint with the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission.

The woman had included photos of Pandikar on her Facebook page on Sept 28 saying that it was not in the culture of Iranuns to hold celebrations for 20 days in a village where a member of the community had passed away, alluding to a week-long celebration held a kilometre away from the house of a grieving family in Kg Nanamum in Kota Belud.

In her posting, she claimed that the family member died on Sept 21 while the carnival celebrations were held from Sept 19 to 25.

“My question is why have we forgotten our values and traditions. In any village, if a death occurs, the residents will mourn for 20 days without any kind of celebrations,’’ the woman said, urging leaders to set an example when observing such customs.

Pandikar said he was opened to criticisms as he takes all criticisms in his stride.

“But I cannot accept if one says I have forgotten or ignored my customs as this Dewi Sukma is trying to tell the public that I do not know my own customs,’’ said the Iranun community leader.

It could not be confirmed if the Facebook account under “Dewi Sukma’’ was genuine.-thestar