He was commenting on the recent distasteful advertisement from Hagemeyer Marketing Services Sdn Bhd that compared a Buddhist monk with monkeys, published in the Star on Aug 13. Tan said: "The paper has to take responsibility for such nonsense. It should issue a public apology without any reservations.

Any delay will raise doubts on the sincerity of the apology." The Olympus camera advertisement should not have appeared in the paper and both parties must be more careful in future not to publish anything that will "disturb or hurt the feelings of any religious community", he added. He commended Hagemeyer group managing director Datuk A.G.M. van der Burgt for apologising to some 50 representatives from various Buddhist groups yesterday.

He said this helped ease the tension among the groups. Tan said a seven-member pro tem committee chaired by Penang Gerakan secretary Dr Tan Hock Nan will study the draft written apology over the advertisement designed by Batey Ads, an advertising agency. Calling on all Buddhist groups to leave the matter to the pro tem committee, he advised them not to hold any more public protests.

Meanwhile, the Star is keeping mum over its stand on the issue. "It is beyond me, and you will have to go higher than me to get a statement," said its managing editor, Michael Aeria, in response to enquiries whether the newspaper intends to apologise. The Star's managing director, Datuk Steven Tan, could not be reached for comment.