Waytha to be investigated for sedition, says IGP

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waytha Moorthy is expected to give his statement to the police.

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waytha Moorthy will be investigated for sedition over statements that he made following the fracas at the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in USJ25 recently, says Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohamad Fuzi Harun.

Fuzi said the minister, who is in charge of unity and social wellbeing, would also be investigated for another offence but he did not elaborate further.

Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was present at the press conference at the Bukit Aman police headquarters, confirmed that Waytha would be called to give a statement.

Waytha is expected to give a statement to the police this evening.

Waytha had been among four Cabinet members who had initially denounced the statement by the Subang Jaya police, on the early morning scuffle at the temple as “false and irresponsible”.

The others were M Kulasegaran, Xavier Jayakumar, Gobind Singh Deo and deputy minister R Sivarasa.

They said it was regrettable that the Subang Jaya police had described the incident as a fight between two Indian groups.

Waytha also noted questions over why only a single patrol car from the police force arrived at the scene at 4.15am while the Federal Reserve Unit only arrived at 6am.

However, he later lauded the police for exhibiting the highest level of professionalism in handling the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple issue.

He also congratulated Fuzi over the quick action by police in bringing normalcy at the vicinity of the temple.

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said police had identified the mastermind of the fracas at the temple.

“We have taken action against those we believe are responsible and more arrests have been made.

“Many people have come forward to help, including in the case of fire fighter Muhammad Adib Kassim who was injured in the fracas.

“We will keep on investigating until we find out who is guilty,” he said.

Muhyiddin had previously said that police would be allowed to probe the violence at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, under certain laws which the ruling coalition is currently reviewing.

These included the Prevention of Crime Act (Amendment) 2017 (Poca), Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota), Sedition Act 1948 and Security Offences Special Measures Act (Sosma).

Meanwhile, on the Dec 8 rally on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Muhyiddin urged the participants to follow the rules.

“Those who want to participate must know the rules, what they should do and not create chaos which can cause harm to the community.

“We also want to remind participants not to bring children to the rally in case of any untoward incident,” he said. - FMT