His press secretary, Nasir Abd Razak, said the allegation, which has gone viral on TikTok, was “malicious slander” intended to damage Samsuri’s reputation.

“He has never issued any statement or post as published (by that social media page)

“We urge that the post be taken down immediately,” he said in a statement posted on Samsuri’s Facebook page today.

The TikTok post claimed Samsuri had apologised to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain over his remarks regarding travel control orders (TCO), and had retracted his statement.

Yesterday, Anwar downplayed the issue and said it was not unusual for VIPs to be flagged with TCO, adding that he himself was subject to such monitoring.

Saifuddin also dismissed Samsuri’s complaints, saying there was no need to spy on him given his security detail as menteri besar.

He said all “VVIPs” in the country were constantly under surveillance for security reasons, and that Samsuri was no exception.

Razarudin had also clarified that there was no basis to include Samsuri in the special surveillance list, known as the “Senarai Pekeliling Khas” (SPK), as he is not a criminal.