Kelantan PSM chief recalls slapping incident

Kelantan PSM chief Khairul Nizam Abd Ghani said he was expecting another regular meeting with the Kumpulan Perumahan Rakyat Kelantan (KPRK) affairs manager Nik Salman Nik Din yesterday morning.

But when he reached out his hand to greet Nik Salman, he claimed the man suddenly slapped him on the face.

Another man who was accompanying Nik Salman then appeared to approach him aggressively, so Khairul said he defended himself.

"The fight lasted around two to three minutes.

"I defended myself, and (during the fight) some objects in the office were damaged," Khairul recalled, when contacted by Malaysiakini today.

Around 11am yesterday, Khairul, along with several complainants who had issues with an abandoned housing project, had gone to the KPRK office to meet with Nik Salman.

They had met with Nik Salman several times before and each meeting had occurred without any unusual incidents, Khairul said.

Usually, they would also be invited into Nik Salman's office for the meeting, but yesterday, the KPRK affairs manager had come out of his office accompanied by a man who Khairul assumed was his bodyguard.

"As usual, I greeted him and extended my hand to introduce myself, even though he already knows me.

"His face was angry and suddenly he slapped me," Khairul claimed.

The fight eventually stopped when the complainants with Khairul began to take out their mobile phones to record the incident, he said.

"I feel like them taking out their phones to record the incident caused everyone to back off. We all said, okay, okay, let's go into the room and discuss," he said.

Police reports lodged

PSM had been helping the teachers from Pusat Asuhan Tunas Islam (Pasti), whose purchased houses had purportedly been abandoned after 90 percent of construction had been completed, he said.

He claimed that Nik Salman was angry yesterday because this issue had become viral on social media after PSM began helping the teachers.

During the discussion after the fight, he alleged that Nik Salman issued a notice to the complainants threatening to void their sales and purchase agreements for involving PSM in the matter. 

At the end of the their discussion, as they were leaving, Khairul said he extended his hand to Nik Salman again in a spirit of goodwill.

"But to protect myself, (I told him) I have to lodge a police report.

"He said, it's up to you, but he also lodged a police report earlier than me about the same incident," he said.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Nik Salman told Malaysiakini it was not a big deal.

He said both parties had lodged police reports, and the police should be left to investigate the matter first.

"Let the police come up with their findings first," he said.

Nik Salman also denied rumours that he was a PAS member, adding that he was not involved in politics at all.- Mkini