‘Cops, security did not help me’

by S Pathmawathy & Rahmah Ghazali
Malaysiakini Feb 26, 09

DAP chairperson Karpal Singh said police and security personnel did not come to his aid when he was mobbed by a group of angry Umno Youth supporters at the Parliament lobby this afternoon.

“Although I called for the police to come and help, no one came… and my driver Michael called (DAP MP Fong) Po Kuan, who then called (DAP MP) Lim (Lip Eng).

“Lim came with N Gobalakrishnan (Padang Serai-PKR), Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang-DAP) and Chong Chieng Jen (Bandar Kuching-DAP),” he told reporters after the incident.

“I might be in a wheelchair but I will not be cowed or intimidated by anyone,” he added.

The DAP chairperson and Bukit Gelugor MP said the Umno Youth supporters were so brazen that some of them had given him their name cards.

“They were very unruly and refused to let me leave,” said the veteran politician, who called for urgent action to be taken against the mob.

“Something must be done on a very urgent basis… how were these people even allowed in the precincts of Parliament? Where is the security if we are going to be accosted on our way to the House?

“I want action to be taken by the speaker, a rhetoric statement in the House is not enough, we want action and the speaker could do the necessary afterwards,” he added.

‘Pinnacle of insolence’

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim condemned the incident, calling it the “pinnacle of insolence”.

“We are fed-up with promises that action will be taken and we don’t just want any investigations, we want an assurance from the speaker that the sanctity of this Parliament will not be destroyed,” he said.

Also seeing red over the incident was another DAP stalwart, Lim Kit Siang.

“This has never happened before… it is the most outrageous and shameful episode in the history of Parliament,” he said, adding that it was also a clear violation of the Houses of Parliament Privileges and Powers Act 1952.

“They should have been arrested on the spot for violating the act… something has become very ugly in Malaysian politics,” he said.

Lim also called upon Umno Youth leader Hishammuddin Hussein and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to apologise over the incident.