Koay teow cook denies starting blaze near Seafield temple

A ‘koay teow’ cook accused of being the purported foreign national who triggered a blaze at a kongsi house near the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Subang Jaya came forward today to clear his name.

Sulaiman Abdullah, 32, said at 1pm on Monday, he found his kongsi house, made from shipping containers, on fire when he returned to fetch his clothes to be washed.

‘’I saw two containers were on fire when I arrived, and I immediately went inside, but only managed to save a bag containing a quran and prayer mat.

‘’When I exited the container, a group of men surrounded me and accused me of starting the fire because I was wearing a glove on my left hand, and started assaulting me," he said when met at his brother’s house in Kuala Lumpur.

He was then rescued by the police who took him out of the area.

Sulaiman, who had been staying at the kongsi house for four months, worked at a restaurant in the MCT Tower building.

The Malaysian citizen said his action in coming forward was to reveal what actually happened at the time because a report on the incident had gone viral online, and resulted in misunderstandings against him, including from acquaintances and relatives.

In a media report, it was said that a foreign national started the fire at the kongsi house.

Sulaiman explained that the kongsi house was provided by his employer for restaurant workers, and he that he wore a glove when cooking.

He also lodged a report at the USJ 8 police station on the incident.

‘’Actually, I myself was unaware that there was a commotion at the temple the previous night, so I went to my kongsi house as usual on Monday,’’ he said.

- Bernama