Chaos broke out at the forum when projectiles with a pungent chemical odour were hurled to the main stage from where former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was addressing the audience.
The Dewan Raja Muda Musa hall was filled with smoke and punches were said to be have been traded as PPBM members rushed on to the stage to protect the 92-year-old chairman of PPBM and Pakatan Harapan.
“Logically thinking, don’t you think when someone brings flares into an event, he has a plan to light them up? It shows that the troublemakers planned to disrupt the programme. Otherwise, why bring the flares?” Azis said when contacted by FMT.
“To me, this violence stemmed from lackeys paid by certain quarters, as you can see in the photos on social media.”
Azis added that people should be promoting peace instead of violence but believes the public can judge matters for themselves.
“This thing happened in Peninsular Malaysia and such a culture does not exist in Sabah.
“Those who instigated this violence should have promoted peace and security if they didn’t want to participate in the forum,” Azis said.
Yesterday, lawyer-activist Eric Paulsen told FMT he believed the chaos that broke out at the forum was an “escalation of violence” due to inaction by the authorities in the past.
He condemned the direct attack on the PPBM and Pakatan Harapan chairman, who was accompanied by his wife Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali at the forum.
Former Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan weighed in as well in condemning the incident, saying it was reminiscent of the same thuggish behaviour exhibited during the last general election.
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who are the culprits behind this incident,” she was reported to have said.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the attack was likely orchestrated by “pro-BN forces”, as it felt threatened by Mahathir’s influence on the people and his criticism of the 1MDB issue.
Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi condemned the violence and said such incidents should not happen in a democratic country.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said in his tweet: “What happened at #nothing2hide must be condemned and cannot be tolerated. Hope the police apprehend those responsible”.