In a brief post on X, the former Kapar MP said he has held a licence to carry a firearm since 2012 and currently owns one.

“The weapon cannot be left just anywhere and must always be in my possession. I carry this weapon everywhere I go,” said Abdullah, who is the acting president of the Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA).

In the viral video, what appeared to be a pistol could be seen holstered on Abdullah’s hip after he gave a press conference on KLFA’s congress two days ago.

The holstered weapon was revealed when he stood up and pushed his jacket back to take his phone out of his pants pocket.

Abdullah, who is also the Tekun Nasional chairman, was the Kuala Langat MP for two terms from 2008 to 2018, before he contested and won the Kapar parliamentary seat for Pakatan Harapan in the 2018 general election.

He failed to defend the seat in the 2022 general election, losing to PAS’s Dr Halimah Ali by 11,782 votes.

In 2015, Tapah MP M Saravanan also stirred controversy after being photographed with a gun at his hip. However, then deputy home minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said many MPs carried personal firearms.

Wan Junaidi was quoted by Malay Mail as saying that MPs were entitled to their own firearms as they were eligible for special dispensation when applying for the necessary permits to carry such weapons.

However, he was also reported to have said that it was entirely at the discretion of the home ministry.