Guan Eng: Umno must answer for Merlimau fracas

DAP wants Umno to be held accountable for the fusillade of eggs and stones which pelted two of its assemblypersons at a meet-and-greet event with Bersih co-chairperson S Ambiga in Merlimau, Malacca, last Saturday.

“The fact that the violent attack by the red-shirted mob was from the group where Perkasa and Umno members were gathered requires the Malay party to fully answer for this ugly violence,” DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said in a statement.

Jasin Umno andMalacca Perkasahave confirmed that their members organised and attended the protest in front of the venue where the high-tea event featuring Ambiga was to be held, though both claimed ignorance about the rioting by some of those in the crowd.

Some have tried to explain away the violence by claiming that one of the protesters was hit in an earlier accident, but this wasstrongly denied by the DAP assemblypersons.

In the incident, DAP assemblypersons Khoo Poay Tiong (Ayer Keroh) and Tey Kok Kiew (Banda Hilir) claimed that a group of nearly 300 red-shirted individuals from Perkasa and the Jasin Umno Wanita and Youth wings gathered outside the venue.

The assemblypersons alleged that their cars were pelted with stones and eggs, resulting in smashed windscreens, broken mirrors and punctured tyres as protesters attacked them while they were leaving the site.                                 
The incident, Lim said,  followed the despicable acts of other pro-BN groups that harassed Ambiga by performing a “butt dance” and holding an illegal beef burger stall protest outside her house, which constituted not only an invasion of privacy and sexual harassment but also religious disrespect.

He lamented the fact that the former Bar Council president was being vilified in such manner, as if she was a greater threat to the nation than drug dealers or child kidnappers, despite no criminal offence on her part.