No action on Malay NGO offering reward for assault on Teresa Kok, says Home Ministry

(Malay mail Online) – No action will be taken against the Malay NGO which offered a reward to anyone who assaults Seputeh DAP lawmaker Teresa Kok by slapping her and records the incident Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

In a parliamentary reply to a query by Kok on the matter, Zahid said that the threat was not a criminal offence as it was not a genuine physical attack with malicious intention.

“It is a principle in criminal law that a criminal offence can only occur when there are two elements coinciding with actus reus (act) and mens rea (malicious intention).

“As such, referring to the Yang Berhormat’s question, there was never any criminal offence committed because (the threat) does not fulfill the legal principles,” the reply read.

The police had earlier recommended a charge of criminal intimidation against the two men who offered a cash bounty for anyone who successfully photographed themselves slapping DAP MP Teresa Kok.

The men were part of a Malay NGO which calls itself The Council of Islamic NGOs which in February offered a RM1,200 for the physical assault on the MP for a Chinese New Year video she had made, lampooning various national issues.

Kok has been charged for sedition for her satirical video.

The Seputeh MP, however, has defended the video, saying that the 11 minute clip was not intended to incite hatred.

The six Muslim groups alleged to have been involved in the protest are Pertubuhan Permuafakatan Majlis Ayahanda Malaysia (Permas), Pertubuhan Kebajikan Islam dan Dakwah (Pekida), Pertubuhan Kebajikan Insan Bakti Malaysia (Perkib), Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM) and Martabat Jalinan Muhibbah Malaysia (MJMM).

The group also held a protest over Kok’s video, slaughtering and splattering the blood of chickens over portraits of opposition leaders while making the cash offer to anyone who manages to assault her.