Kit Siang said to reverse the trend, and return to mature politics, the “masterminds” of the 1MDB ‘Nothing to Hide 2.0’ forum violence needed to “be ferreted out and charged”, not just the youths detained who had “allowed themselves to become tools of the masterminds”.
In a statement issued at a press conference at Wisma Penang DAP, Lim was quick to claim that the “masterminds” were from Umno.
Violence erupted at the “Nothing to Hide 2.0” forum on Sunday with some youths setting off flares and attacking other forum participants with chairs in what appeared to be an attempt to sabotage the event.
Saying he felt pity for the three teenagers detained by police over the violence at the ‘Nothing to Hide 2.0’ forum, Lim claimed the trio – two college students and the third having a criminal record – were among youths who were paid RM50 each to cause trouble.
“It is utterly irresponsible for the Umno ‘masterminds’ of the ruckus at the ‘Nothing to Hide 2.0’ forum to treat the youths as ‘expendable mercenaries’ who could be paid to sabotage the forum.”
He said he did not expect Umno to bail out the trio, and that was the reason Umno leaders were distancing themselves from the violence through their statements.
The Gelang Patah MP ridiculed a statement by MCA spokesman Ti Lian Ker asking if the violence might have been intended for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who had been invited to the forum but did not attend.
Some Umno leaders had suggested that the violence was started by PPBM members themselves or that it was a case of opposition members fighting against each other.
Lim said: “I agree with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that the claim that PPBM had perpetrated the violence at the ‘Nothing to Hide 2.0’ forum were made by ‘crazy’ people.”
He said such ‘crazy’ people were not just confined to Umno grassroots but included top leaders and ministers.
He said now that the forum had been sabotaged, it had been elevated as “one of key events to demand full accountability and responsibility for the 1MDB scandal”.
Saying he shared the outrage of decent Malaysians at the “sabotage” of the forum, he went on to list several comments by ordinary people on social media.
The politician, who had been jailed by Dr Mahathir’s regime, said there was possibly no person who had criticised the former prime minister as much as he had in the past.
“But we must never lose sight of our vision to make Malaysia great again, to become a world example of a successful, united, harmonious, democratic, just, prosperous and progressive nation created out of diverse races, languages, religions and cultures.
“We must learn from the mistakes of the past so that we can succeed in achieving the great Malaysian dream in the foreseeable future.”