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The blame game starts on the Esplande gathering
Free Malaysia Today – February 28, 2012
The DAP, most social activists, civil society groups and anti-Lynas supporters are all pointing their fingers at Umno thugs.
But the state Umno accuses Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng of provoking it. Its deputy chief Musa Sheikh Fadzir called on the police to probe on whether Lim had provoked the crowd.
He claimed the gathering was relatively under control despite heckling from both sides until Lim arrived at the scene. "Things then turned chaotic from the moment Lim arrived," he told a press conference at Barisan Nasional state headquarters yesterday.
However, state DAP chairman and Tanjung MP Chow Kon Yeow accused Umno of causing the fracas, pointing out that some 30 men wearing white caps and shirts hurled abuses and incited violence in the protest.
Chow, who was at the gathering, said the men had tried to block Lim from getting out of his car on arrival and also attempted to block his car when he was leaving.
Asked about claims that Lim's speech had provoked the crowd, Chow said the crowd was already heckling an hour before Lim arrived. "BN dare say that the chief minister had said something that made them angry?" he asked at a press conference held late afternoon in his state exco office in Komtar.
'Sleeping on the job'
In the ugly incident, two newsmen from Kwong Wah Daily were roughed up by an Umno mob, which its state Youth chief Shaik Hussein Mydin confirmed were members from the Tanjung division. He added that state BN was compiling video evidence of the happenings.
Musa holds Lim responsible for the ugly incidents since the chief minister was also the head of state security council. "Just because he is the CM, does not mean he is above the law," he said.
State police chief deputy commissioner Wira Ayub Yaacob has expressed disappointment that the police were not informed of the gathering. "The organiser only informed us when the commotion broke out and they even tried to blame us for late response," he said.
But civil society groups and political observers have all blamed the police for "sleeping on the job allowing Umno mob to rule the roost".
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) Bayan Baru PSM division chief Choo Chon Kai said Umno was the main cause of the fracas. He also slammed the police statement blaming the anti-Lynas supporters for the unprovoked attack by Umno thugs.
"The ruckus could have been evaded if police have acted quickly,"said Choo, a former detainee under the Emergencyu Ordinance.
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