Akmal said he was ready to cooperate with police investigations, in response to DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook who said he had directed his party’s youth wings to file reports throughout the country against the Umno leader.
“Afraid of you? Not in the slightest.
“Want to file police reports (against me)? Bring it on, I’m ready to fully cooperate,” he said in a Facebook post.
Akmal also said that the gathering outside a hardware store was conducted peacefully. “Not a single picture of your (DAP) leaders was trampled on,” he added.
Loke had said that the gathering led by Akmal amounted to bullying and intimidation against the shop owner, who was accused of hoisting the Jalur Gemilang upside down.
He said he had instructed the party’s youth wings nationwide to lodge reports against Akmal for criminal intimidation, intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of the peace, and making statements likely to cause public mischief.
“The police reports will also be filed under the newly introduced anti-bullying provisions in the Penal Code: Section 507B and Section 507C,” he said in a statement.
Loke said that by ignoring police warnings, Akmal had openly challenged the rule of law and disrupted public order, causing unease among nearby business owners, some of whom were forced to close their shops earlier than usual.
“Such behaviour goes beyond the limits of the law and the norms of Malaysia’s multi-ethnic society. A proportionate penalty must be imposed for such extreme acts,” he said.
Akmal however said that when DAP was in the opposition, the police had issued far more instructions against gatherings.
“But you still went ahead, didn’t you? So, would that mean that you could also be charged for defying the police chief’s orders?
“You even overturned cars and trampled on pictures of government leaders at the time,” he said, referring to incidents during the Bersih 3.0 rally in 2012 and the Bersih 4 rally three years later.
In a separate Facebook post, Akmal warned that DAP would be cutting all ties with Umno if it severed political relations with the Umno Youth chief, following calls for this by Penang DAP Youth.
“Cutting ties with me is the same as cutting ties with Umno Youth, which is equivalent to cutting ties with Umno,” he said.