Chaos at forum as projectile thrown while Mahathir speaks

Smoke fills hall and fighting breaks out after a participant questions former prime minister about the Memali incident of 1985.

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SHAH ALAM: Chaos broke out at the Nothing to Hide 2.0 forum when projectiles with pungent chemical odour were hurled while former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was addressing the audience today.

The Dewan Raja Muda Musa hall was filled with smoke and punches were said to be have been traded as PPBM members rushed on to the stage to protect the 92-year-old chairman of PPBM and Pakatan Harapan.

The incident happened after a participant had questioned Mahathir on the Memali incident which saw 14 villagers and four policemen being killed in a confrontation between the police and an Islamic cult in November 1985 in Kedah when Mahathir was prime minister.

“Why, Tun? They were Malaysians. They were Malays, villagers. They were not Jews or Zionists,” the participant was heard saying.

Mahathir kept his cool, replying that four policemen were also killed and that the authorities had used standard procedures in the operation.

Flares were thrown immediately after that, and fighting broke out. One person, suspected to be the one who hurled the projectile, was taken away into a room.

After a while, the master of ceremonies announced that the programme had ended. -FMT