Attempted arson on Penang DAP Hq
By Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider
Penang DAP today claimed there was an attempt to burn down its headquarters in George Town.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said in a post on micro-blogging site Twitter this morning that this was the second such attack on the premises.
“Cowardly attack 2try 2burn down Pg DAP Hq early dis morning. Only 4days earlier red paint splashed on Hq n @nweiaik office. Reject violence!” the DAP secretary-general said.
Ng Wei Aik, political secretary to the chief minister, had alerted his colleagues at about 3 this morning, claiming as evidence the torched remains of a stack of newspapers in front of the office.
“Someone tried 2 torch down DAP Penang HQ around 3am. All the newspapers put outside the HQ have been burnt down. 2nd attack after 4days,” the Komtar assemblyman had tweeted at about 5am.
When contacted by The Malaysian Insider, Ng said the DAP was informed of the attack by a Malay man living across its headquarters on Jalan Talipon.
“We believe that all the attacks are related and it is by those unhappy with the loudspeaker ban,” he said, referring to the barring of the use of loudspeakers for reciting verses from the Quran before dawn prayers.
The ban has been played up, especially in the Umno-controlled media, as evidence that the DAP-led state government was impinging on the rights of Muslims.
However, PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and Perlis Mufti Juanda Jaya have insisted that the ruling is in line with the religion.
