A day after proclaiming that 'Singh is King', DAP veteran Karpal Singh finds himself mobbed by a group of angry Umno Youth members at the Parliament lobby.
Karpal, 69, had also warned Umno Youth not to play games with him and likened himself to the recent Bollywood blockbuster 'Singh is Kinng'.
At about 2.30pm, the wheelchair-bound politician was surrounded by about 30 Umno Youth members, who prevented him from entering the Dewan Rakyat and demanded he apologise.
Karpal telephoned fellow DAP MP Fong Po Kuan, who arrived with a 'rescue team' comprising DAP MPs to save their chairperson.
During the ensuing drama, DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng claimed that he was assaulted as he tried to help Karpal escape the pushing and shoving which broke out at one of the entrances to Parliament.
According to Lim, he was hit a number of times on the face and his body.
Among the mob leaders were Serdang Umno Youth chief Ungku Salleh Ungku Jamal, Gombak Youth chief Megat Zulkarnain Omar Din and Petaling Jaya Utara Youth chief Lat Sharizan Abdullah.
The opposition parliamentarians also complained that security personnel did not intervene until they made noise.
In an immediate reaction, House speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia expressed regret over the incident, which he said was a first in Parliament.
The speaker added that he would ask the Home Ministry to investigate the matter and vowed that such incidents would not recur.
BN Backbenchers Club chairperson Tiong King Sing later told reporters that all 22 members of the unruly crowd have been arrested by the police from Bukit Aman.
The three Umno Youth leaders who led the mob later gave statements to the police.
The BBC chief also apologised to Karpal over the incident and said that he would urge the speaker to limit the entry of political party supporters into the House.
Khairy lambasts Karpal
Earlier in the morning, Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin in an unrelated press conference challenged Karpal, whom he described as an "arrogant MP who thinks he knows everything", to repeat his accusation outside of the Parliament building.
Karpal had levelled the accusation when debating on the motion of thanks on the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Meanwhile, Khairy said Umno Youth cannot take any legal action against Karpal because the accusation was made in Parliament.
"DAP always talks of a world class parliament but their chairman behaves in a very uncivilised and rude manner," added the Rembau MP.
Khairy also challenged the veteran lawyer to provide proof of his allegation within 24 hours.
"If he doesn't show us the proof, then the people should consider Karpal a liar and that he has no credibility," he said during his 30-minute press conference.
Furthermore, Khairy said more than a hundred police reports were filed against Karpal when he threatened to sue Perak ruler, Sultan Azlan Shah, over the political turmoil in the state.
The Umno Youth leader urged the Attorney-General's Chambers to look into the reports and take action.
"We want to remind him that Umno Youth is not playing games and Karpal is the one who is playing with the sentiments of the rakyat, he is playing with fire.
"If he does not repent, then it would only serve to aggravate our anger and the anger of the people," he warned.
'Singh is King'
Karpal had in Parliament yesterday accused his political opponents for sending two bullets in the mail.
"Where did the damn Umno Youth fellows get the bullets?" Karpal asked. "Singh is King. I am not afraid. They made 100 police reports, sent me two bullets and demonstrated."
Umno Youth member Mukhriz Mahathir said Karpal should be charged with sedition for the bullets comment, and that he should show more respect to the constitutional monarchy.
"I would also like to remind Karpal not to be too arrogant to the extent of not respecting our Malay rulers," he said in a statement.
Umno Youth secretary Abdul Rahman Dahlan confirmed members of the influential party wing were involved in the scuffle.
"It's a very serious accusation by Karpal as an experienced MP. We have 700,000 members and we might not be able to control all of them," he told AFP.
1 comment:
i might not like how the umno youth handled the situation but for once i think karpal singh should just shut the hell up. His blatant stupidity on instigating people are evident.
The issue is already somewhat blown out of proportion and here we have this oldman who comes out with titles like "singh is king" is a mirror of how inmature he actually is. Arrogant is the word, and ignorant is the other word i can describe this Singh.
You are not King, but you are definitely a fool for playing into the hands of the umno youth.
I expected more from a senior politician like you...but i guess you can't judge a book by its cover.
You disgrace us all karpal.
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