Selayang rep reports assault

Where's the Polis ?

SELAYANG: A Selayang councillor has claimed that he was assaulted by a group of men belonging to the Malay rights group Perkasa.

Selayang municipal councillor Lim Ching How said the assault occurred when he and his assistant Zuhudi Ahmad were visiting Taman Industri Bolton in Batu Caves about 11am yesterday.

Lim said he had gone to the site after receiving a complaint that a signboard put up beside the community hall had been torn down.

“I parked my car about 50m from the site and walked to the area. When I reached the place, I introduced myself as an MPS councillor to a group of people gathered there and told them that they were not supposed to take down the signboard.

Bruised all over: Leong (left) showing the bruises on Lim’s chest at the Batu Caves police station yesterday.

“They then started punching and kicking me until I fell. They continued to attack me for several minutes,” he said.

“My assistant Zuhudi who tried to help me was also beaten by the group,” said Lim, adding that he suffered bruises on his neck and back due to the beating.

He claimed that some of the people in the group were wearing Perkasa T-shirts when they set upon him and identified others as members of a politicial party.

Lim said that although two policemen arrived at the scene and tried to shield him from the group, the men continued to assault him. He said he was later rescued by some people from a restaurant nearby, prompting the men to even threaten to burn the place down.

Lim subsequently lodged a report at the Batu Caves police station, accompanied by Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, Selayang MP William Leong, MPS councillors Gopalan Nair and A. Murugeshu.

Leong condemned the act as “totally unacceptable.”

Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali denied the assault involved Perkasa members. He said the organisation had never given instructions to its members to do anything which contravened the law.

“I was shocked when I was asked by reporters about the assault,” said Syed Hassan.

Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali said he was unaware of the incident as he had been in the Dewan Rakyat the whole day.