‘Apa Lu Cakap’ polling day war of words

Video shows 'normal election-day argument' between BN and Amanah officials and DAP assemblyman.

KUALA KANGSAR: A war of words broke out between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan officers in front of the polling centre at SMK Tsung Wah around 11am this morning, but nothing else happened.

A BN official, who refused to be named, characterised the incident as a “normal argument” between political parties during election campaigning.

“This kind of thing is normal during voting day. If it’s all quiet then it would be boring. Just a war of words, nothing happened,” he said when met by FMT reporters here.

However, he admitted there were some youth members who had let out some words while the argument was occurring.

A video recording has been spread showing an argument between a BN and Amanah official, as well as Pasir Pinji assemblyman Howard Lee of the DAP.

The 12-second clip shows a man in sunglasses grabbing Lee’s shirt while shouting “Apa lu cakap? (What did you say?)”, followed by cheers from other BN officials.

In a posting on Facebook, Lee said the BN official had been provocative, by shouting “Balik-balik, Balik Tongsan (Go back to China)”.

Lee said: “I can’t accept provocations like that. MCA members who were with them there just kept quiet. But that was expected. When asked not to be rude, their leader responded with an even ruder gesture, in fact he acted like a gangster by strangling me and wanting to punch me.”

A patrolling police officer said that the scuffle did not last long and did not become more serious. “They were just arguing, nothing physical occurred. In fact, I was the one who separated them,” said the officer who refused to be named.