Hassan said Fahmi was in Istanbul, Turkey, to attend an event but still took the initiative to reach out to him after hearing his comments about U Mobile Sdn Bhd being awarded the second 5G network.

“He (Fahmi) felt that there was something wrong with my statement. So he called me (at night after the Dewan Rakyat sitting ended).

“I really appreciate what he did. He made an effort to contact me although he was abroad.

“He called me saying, ‘Pak Hassan, this is what happened,'” he said during an episode of a podcast hosted by activist Iswardy Mordi.

However, the PKR lawmaker’s remarks about the government’s decision to grant U Mobile the 5G contract led to him being summoned by the PKR disciplinary board.

According to a source, he was accused of smearing PKR’s image.

The source said Hassan was also accused by the party of insulting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

This evening, Fahmi, who is also PKR information chief, said the party’s leadership council had decided against taking any disciplinary action against Hassan.

This came after the council meeting today discussed the disciplinary report against Hassan.

Hassan had in a social media post accused the government of repeating the mistakes made by the previous administrations, especially during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s first stint as prime minister.

In the podcast episode, Hassan said it was important to inform him directly if he had said something factually wrong.

He also compared Fahmi’s quick response to that of the agriculture and food security ministry, which had been slow in addressing his concerns about the shortage of local white rice in the market.

At a Dewan Rakyat session on Nov 18, Hassan had asked agriculture and food security minister Mohamad Sabu to clarify whether the imported rice available was entirely sourced from abroad or if any of it was mixed with locally produced rice.

Mohamad responded on Nov 24, stating that a special committee is being formed to tackle the ongoing shortage of locally produced white rice.