‘BN should apologise over molest incident’

DAP's Teo Nie Ching said BN must be held accountable for mobilising the Mat Rempit, which resulted in the alleged molests of two female students.

JOHOR BARU: Barisan Nasional should apologise for mobilising a crowd of supporters on motorcycles at Southern University College last night, which resulted in two female students being allegedly molested by them.

DAP assistant national publicity secretary Teo Nie Ching said the molest incident is a clear case of BN trying to engage the rogue elements at the expense of innocent women.

“They [BN] are the ones who brought the Mat Rempit to the university, they must apologise. We cannot let the women be the victims,” she told FMT when contacted today.

“It is not appropriate for [caretaker Prime Minister] Najib [Tun Razak] to try to campaign by bringing in the motorcyclists in the first place,” she added.

Two 19-year-old students of Southern University College claimed that they were molested by a number of BN supporters during a BN’s meet-the-people function with the prime minister last night.

The two students, who were clad in cheongsam, were assigned to be the “Miss Etiquette” to present Najib with a pen to sign a plaque at a ground-breaking ceremony on a field.

They claimed when Najib went onto a platform to sign the plaque, a group of BN supporters swarmed the platform. The group had earlier entered the campus on motorcycles and were clad in BN blue shirts.

“It was packed. Everyone pushed against each other, then someone touched my backside with his palm, firmly; we were both wearing cheongsam in a thin fabric, you know… I could feel the fingers,” one of the students, who declined to be named, reportedly claimed.

The second student claimed a young BN supporter rubbed his crotch hard against her buttocks.

Both of them have since filed a complaint with the school authorities but have yet to lodge a police report.

Commenting about it today, Teo said it is an open secret that BN always pays motorcyclists to attend its functions as supporters, which makes the motorcyclists’ behaviour beyond its control.

“When they come only for the money, they may not even listen to you because they are just there to collect money. They don’t feel the need to take care of BN’s image,” she said.

She said although the incident last night may be an isolated one, it would certainly discourage women from attending BN functions.

“Generally speaking, the public perception towards Mat Rempit is not that good. I don’t think by engaging Mat Rempit, it can help to increase support for BN ,” she said.