Villagers force PH dialogue near Johor Bahru to be cancelled

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang calls on Umno’s Johor Bahru MP Shahrir Samad to state his stand on the disruption by a group reportedly demanding that Umno not be criticised.

PETALING JAYA: More than 50 residents of Kampung Bakar Batu in the Johor Bahru parliamentary constituency reportedly chased away DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang and some other Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders from the village last night.

China Press reported that the incident forced the opposition coalition’s dialogue session that was planned at an eatery there at 9pm to be cancelled.

It was scheduled to feature Kit Siang, who is Gelang Patah MP, and Osman Sapian, the secretary of Johor PH and PPBM.

The report said the premises owner could no longer allow the event to be held there after being “pressured”.

This led to Lim and the other leaders to hold a press conference at the eatery when the electricity there was disconnected and a commotion was heard outside.

An ustaz and some residents then demanded that the media conference be stopped, the report said.

It said as they also called on the event organisers to stop criticising Umno, an individual appearing to act as a mediator asked the group to allow just 10 minutes for the press conference to continue.

According to China Press, Lim then told the reporters that he would not comment on the incident.

It said the PH leaders left the village in their cars at about 9.45pm.

In a statement today, Lim said Umno’s Johor Bahru MP Shahrir Samad should state his stand on the disruption and issue a clarification.

“I have always known Shahrir as one of the Umno leaders who is more committed to the principles and practices of parliamentary democracy, and I will be most shocked if he has so changed as to mastermind or countenance what happened in Kg Bakar Batu last night,” he said.

Lim said the programme was scheduled to also feature DAP’s Stulang state assemblyman Andrew Chen Kah Eng, Johor PKR information chief Akmal Nasir and Johor Bahru Amanah deputy chairman Muadz Jamaluddin.

He said the incident highlighted a “sobering reality” that Malaysia lagged behind the West and certain Asian countries like Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia in practicing parliamentary democracy.

“We still have quite a distance to go to become a normal democracy… where political parties can freely, democratically and peacefully meet and dialogue with the people about the problems of the country and their plans for the future,” he said. -FMT