PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar today said if it was not for the intervention of supporters at a ceramah in Gambang, Pahang yesterday, she could well have suffered a black eye.
“It was inches away, you don’t want to measure, it was very unpleasant,” she said at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya after lodging a report at the Tropicana police station.
According to Nurul (left in photo), the attacker, clad in a red shirt, had slowly inched into the coffee shop in Felda Lepar Hilir 1 where a PKR ceramah was being held, before launching his arm at her.
“If our supporters had not parried it, then (opposition leader) Anwar Ibrahim would not be the only one with a black eye,” she said in reference to the infamous incident where then-inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor had punched her father.
Nurul Izzah revealed that local police in Gambang had identified the attacker as Asrullah Affendi Abdullah. However no further information was available.
“It was inches away, you don’t want to measure, it was very unpleasant,” she said at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya after lodging a report at the Tropicana police station.
According to Nurul (left in photo), the attacker, clad in a red shirt, had slowly inched into the coffee shop in Felda Lepar Hilir 1 where a PKR ceramah was being held, before launching his arm at her.“If our supporters had not parried it, then (opposition leader) Anwar Ibrahim would not be the only one with a black eye,” she said in reference to the infamous incident where then-inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor had punched her father.
Nurul Izzah revealed that local police in Gambang had identified the attacker as Asrullah Affendi Abdullah. However no further information was available.
She added that local PKR leaders in Gambang has also lodged a police report over the incident this morning and called on police to release their video of the incident as she had spotted a plainclothes officer recording the event that night.
‘Insults hurled at us’
The PKR vice-president, accompanied by PKR communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had arrived at the coffeeshop at around 9.30pm to find that some 30 people, wielding Umno and BN flags at another coffeeshop next door, were blasting loud music to drown out the ceramah speakers.
Nurul added that the heckling became worse when she began to speak at 10.30pm, as they inched into the ceramah and were “metres away”, hurling abuse at the participants on top of singing the Umno anthem.
“They shouted for Nik Nazmi to go back to Selangor, for me to go back to Lembah Pantai and called Anwar a sodomite, it was very demeaning.
“I tried to calm them down, I said we’re all 1 Malaysia, you know, we had to try, but...”
Nurul said that it was around this time, where she had barely been able to speak for more than three minutes, when the attacker launched himself at her.
“There were about 100 people at the ceramah and they were very patient with all the heckling, they may not necessarily be supporters but they wanted to hear what we had to say,” she said.
After the attempted attack, Nurul Izzah said they moved farther into the shop. However, the situation was too tense to continue and they were forced to leave.
“When we wanted to leave, the group attempted to block us, about four or five Felda auxiliary police had to be called in to escort us out,” she said.
‘Police also became victims’
Nurul Izzah added that before the fiasco, around 10 uniformed and plainclothes police were present as organisers had informed police of the event, and police had attempted to calm the hecklers, but to no avail.
However she commended the police effort, pointing out that even they had been abused by the group.
“When the police were negotiating with us the group shouted: ‘Why you are talking to the opposition, why are you supporting the opposition’,” she said.
Nurul added that she believe the group was made up of Umno supporters, stating: “They could sing the entire Umno song from memory and they had brought Umno and BN flags.”
The ceramah was situated within the Paya Besar parliamentary constituency helmed by Umno’s Abdul Manan Ismail.
Expressing shock, Nurul Izzah condemned the physical intimidation, adding that even if Umno wanted to hold ceramah in Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor they were granted the avenue to do so.
“We are not interested in any drama, we just want to get on with our work,” she said.
Merely hours before this incident, a group of people who were heard chanting pro-Umno slogans had disrupted an anti-Lynas rally in Penang, and two journalists were injured.
Such incidents appears to be on the rise as PKR makes its foray into Felda areas in the face of a looming general election.
Last week, opposition leader and PKR de facto Anwar Ibrahim’s ceramah in Sembrong, Johor was met with violence after Umno supporters allegedly threw stones, pieces of wood and firecrackers, as well as kicking at his Mercedes Benz, resulting in a cracked windscreen and a dented door.
VIDEO|10.29 mins
‘Insults hurled at us’
The PKR vice-president, accompanied by PKR communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had arrived at the coffeeshop at around 9.30pm to find that some 30 people, wielding Umno and BN flags at another coffeeshop next door, were blasting loud music to drown out the ceramah speakers.
Nurul added that the heckling became worse when she began to speak at 10.30pm, as they inched into the ceramah and were “metres away”, hurling abuse at the participants on top of singing the Umno anthem.“They shouted for Nik Nazmi to go back to Selangor, for me to go back to Lembah Pantai and called Anwar a sodomite, it was very demeaning.
“I tried to calm them down, I said we’re all 1 Malaysia, you know, we had to try, but...”
Nurul said that it was around this time, where she had barely been able to speak for more than three minutes, when the attacker launched himself at her.“There were about 100 people at the ceramah and they were very patient with all the heckling, they may not necessarily be supporters but they wanted to hear what we had to say,” she said.
After the attempted attack, Nurul Izzah said they moved farther into the shop. However, the situation was too tense to continue and they were forced to leave.
“When we wanted to leave, the group attempted to block us, about four or five Felda auxiliary police had to be called in to escort us out,” she said.
‘Police also became victims’
Nurul Izzah added that before the fiasco, around 10 uniformed and plainclothes police were present as organisers had informed police of the event, and police had attempted to calm the hecklers, but to no avail.
However she commended the police effort, pointing out that even they had been abused by the group.
“When the police were negotiating with us the group shouted: ‘Why you are talking to the opposition, why are you supporting the opposition’,” she said.Nurul added that she believe the group was made up of Umno supporters, stating: “They could sing the entire Umno song from memory and they had brought Umno and BN flags.”
The ceramah was situated within the Paya Besar parliamentary constituency helmed by Umno’s Abdul Manan Ismail.
Expressing shock, Nurul Izzah condemned the physical intimidation, adding that even if Umno wanted to hold ceramah in Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor they were granted the avenue to do so.
“We are not interested in any drama, we just want to get on with our work,” she said.
Merely hours before this incident, a group of people who were heard chanting pro-Umno slogans had disrupted an anti-Lynas rally in Penang, and two journalists were injured.
Such incidents appears to be on the rise as PKR makes its foray into Felda areas in the face of a looming general election.
Last week, opposition leader and PKR de facto Anwar Ibrahim’s ceramah in Sembrong, Johor was met with violence after Umno supporters allegedly threw stones, pieces of wood and firecrackers, as well as kicking at his Mercedes Benz, resulting in a cracked windscreen and a dented door.
VIDEO|10.29 mins
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