He apologised for his action and said he would cooperate with the police who are investigating him over the alleged breach of SOP.

In a statement, he said he watched the video again after his visit to the palace yesterday and noticed that it was a recent video.

“I apologise over the confusion,” he said.

The pictures and a 14-second video of a durian feast in an orchard showing Rashid among a large group of people dining on the king of fruits have been widely shared on social media since yesterday. The orchard was said to be in Batu Pahat.

The footage caused uproar on social media as those in the video were not wearing face masks, did not observe physical distancing and were having a gathering which is not allowed.

Rashid said today that after analysing the video again, he remembered that he had visited farmers affected by the MCO in Batu Pahat.

“It so happened that at that time, there was a working visit by minister Zuraida Kamaruddin to Batu Pahat,” he said.

Rashid said after the minister’s entourage left, he was taken to a farm to hear the farmers’ grievances over poor sales of fruits during MCO.

“When I arrived at the farm, the durian orchard owner served us (durians). I had a little bit while discussing,” he said, adding that he left for Kuala Lumpur after the discussion.

Yesterday, Batu Pahat police chief Ismail Dollah said investigations have started following a report filed based on the video.

“The investigation is being conducted under Regulation 18 (1) of the Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control Regulations 2021,” Ismail had said.