JOHOR POLLS | DAP's Seputeh MP Teresa Kok is facing an investigation for allegedly threatening the police.
The situation stemmed from MCA and DAP events held just 50m apart in Yong Peng on the first day of the state election campaign last Saturday (Feb 26).
DAP had complained that it could not start its ceramah on schedule due to the loud noises from the lion dance at MCA's dinner function hosted at Hock Hwa Restaurant. It eventually started 30 minutes later, at 8.30pm.
Kok, who was one of the speakers at the ceramah, then requested police to allow the event an additional 30 minutes beyond the 10pm cut-off time as they had to start late but the police refused to budge.
Kok was then heard saying in Chinese, "If we become the government they will know", a clip of which has gone viral on social media. The video was shared by a page called "Sahabat Bossku" and had since received over 300,000 views.
MCA spokesperson Mike Chong Yew Chuan has issued a statement accusing Kok of "threatening" the police.
On Feb 28, Batu Pahat district police chief Ismail Dollah said the police are investigating the comment after a report was lodged.
The DAP today swung into damage control mode, with Kok explaining that she was unhappy at BN bullying Pakatan Harapan.
"As a speaker that night, I witnessed the injustice against the organiser of Harapan's ceramah.
"In my speech, I appealed to the police to allow an additional 30 minutes as a replacement for the time when we were interrupted by the lion dance organised by MCA-BN supporters, but I was disappointed when our request was rejected by the police officer in charge.
"I believed MCA-BN was deliberately trying to show its power and bully Harapan, and it showed their arrogance,” she said in a statement today.
"I also felt that the police wouldn’t allow us an additional 30 minutes simply because Harapan was the opposition," she added.
Kok apologises
The DAP lawmaker also apologised if the situation was misconstrued.
"I am prepared to give the police my full cooperation if they want to conduct an investigation against me but I also ask the police to investigate the election standard operating procedures (SOP) violation by MCA-BN that night.
"I would also like to apologise to anyone who misunderstood or was confused about the real situation on Feb 26, as well as anyone who felt hurt," she said.
‘Why didn’t police also act on MCA?’
DAP's Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham backed Kok, complaining that MCA's 70-table dinner saw hundreds of people but faced no action.
"We not only saw MCA not bothering with the SOP but the situation was not handled fairly by the police and Election Commission (EC) officers.
"If they could order our ceramah to stop at 10pm then they should have also asked the lion dance to stop at 8pm so Harapan's ceramah can proceed.
"Furthermore, the EC's SOP clearly disallowed political activities of more than 100 people but hundreds of people were at the MCA-BN dinner. Why didn't the authorities take action?" he said in a separate statement.
Ngeh added that he had tried to contact MCA president Wee Ka Siong during the incident but to no avail.
"In fact, while Harapan's ceramah was forced to stop at 10pm, the MCA dinner was still ongoing with more than 100 people at the restaurant," he said.
If the police were going to investigate Kok, Ngeh said they should also probe the MCA dinner for the SOP breach.
Campaigning for the Johor polls kicked off on Feb 26. Johoreans will go to the polls on March 12. - Mkini
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