Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim's lawyers have denied that their client's Twitter posting on Monday was aimed at Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

This was conveyed through a legal letter to Malaysiakini from law firm Shukor Baljit & Partners yesterday.

“We refer to the publication of the article which conveyed the unjustified impression that our client had directed his Twitter message to Syed Saddiq when the Twitter message itself made no such mention.

“Our client instructs us that you have recklessly referred to the news portal Free Malaysia Today to convey the conclusion as to the following without regard to the truth or without obtaining clarification from our client:

1) That the Twitter message was directed at a specific person named in your article.

2) That the object of the article was to ridicule the named person in response to the latter's Facebook message in respect of Tun Dr Mahathir, the prime minister of Malaysia.

3) The Twitter message is part of a series of attack, or hitting out against Tun Dr Mahathir, the prime minister of Malaysia.

“We are instructed to state that the publication of the article was made based on conjecture and surmise in as much as it is made in an irresponsible manner and that the article is defamatory to our client. Our client categorically states that the Twitter message was not intended to the person stated in your article,” read the letter.

Malaysiakini wishes to apologise to Tunku Ismail for linking his Twitter message to Syed Saddiq in the article titled “You were still in your mother's belly, kid” when the crown prince did not state who he was referring to.

Malaysiakini had reported that the crown prince's tweet, which read, “Perfectionist? It’s either you’re delusional or obsessed. You were still in your mother’s belly, kid. Do some research,” had raised questions as to its intended target.

This is due to Syed Saddiq, the nation's youngest minister at 26, having described Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a “perfectionist” with regard to the latter's recent speech at the United Nations (UN) meet.