Man stabbed at Gombak political rally

Md Izwan, The Malaysian Insider

Rough house tactics, which have been a feature of Malaysian politics, went up a notch with the first stabbing at a political rally ahead of the 13th general elections.

A group of people alleged to be Umno Youth members yesterday attacked a PKR rally in Gombak that left a few PKR volunteers injured, leading to swift condemnation from PKR leaders.

In the attack, a PKR supporter is believed to have been stabbed with a sharp weapon on his left shoulder, the party’s paper Keadilan Daily reported.

Another victim, Md Haidir Samsuddin, 48, was injured in the head when hit by a stone that was hurled by the thugs.

“I was then at the side of the road, controlling the situation when the Umno thugs started the kecoh (unrest).

“Suddenly a big stone from across the road fell on my head,” said Haidir, whose head was bleeding.

PKR deputy president Azmin Ali (picture) slammed Gombak Umno Youth chief Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin for allegedly leading a group of thugs to attack the Jelajah Merdeka Rakyat rally at Gombak last night.

Azmin, who is also the Gombak MP, saw his speech last night interrupted by the hurling of stones at the crowd, which then led to a scuffle breaking out at around 10pm.

“I am very disappointed with this rude behaviour of Umno, and there were even those who were injured because of this samseng (gangster) attitude,” Azmin told The Malaysian Insider when met after the tension between Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters died had down last night.

Azmin claimed that Megat, who is the son of silat master Tan Sri Omar Din Mauju, had deliberately planned the provocation during the rally.

He accused Megat and the group he led of using harsh language and throwing objects in the direction of the crowd gathered at the rally.

“They (Umno) used silat practitioners to trigger provocation.

“Megat himself led the group that triggered provocation and quarreled with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) volunteers here,” Azmin added.

Following the commotion, a group of Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) officers that were on the scene quickly moved in to control the situation and formed a human shield to separate the two groups of supporters.

Gombak’s deputy police chief Rosly Hassan said the police had not received any reports from those who were injured and said the situation was under control.

“No police report until now and the situation is under control,” Rosly said when met by The Malaysian Insider at the scene of the incident.

This is not the first attack on a PR rally, with a similar incident happening in Lembah Pantai where a crowd at a rally held by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was attacked.

The PKR bus used by Anwar and party leaders for its nationwide pre-election campaign tour, Jelajah Merdeka Rakyat , was also splashed with paint and attacked with rocks several times.

In yesterday’s rally, Anwar, Tamrin Ghafar and Batu Caves state assemblyman Amirudin Shari were also present.

PKR had previously called for a stop to the political violence directed at them.