JAMAL, 7 OTHERS REMANDED “I
NGO head defiant, vows to continue fighting any attempt to hold beer festival in Selangor
T is better to be in the lockup than to get drunk.”
Those were the words of Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos after a magistrate’s court yesterday granted a three-day remand order against him to facilitate investigations into the beer-smashing stunt at the Selangor state secretariat building (SUK) on Thursday.
Magistrate P. Sarulatha granted the remand order, which will end tomorrow at 12.45pm.
The Malaysian NGOs Coalition chairman and Sungai Besar Umno division chief remained unfazed as he flashed a smile at press photographers when he was escorted by police out of the courthouse.
Jamal and seven of his employees were remanded under Section 143 of the Penal Code for participating in an illegal assembly, read together with Section 268 of the same code for creating a public nuisance.
They were arrested at 1.45am yesterday in Sekinchan, Sabak Bernam.
Just minutes before Jamal was taken into the courtroom, he tried to justify his beer-smashing stunt at the SUK building in protest of the Better Beer Festival 2017, which had been banned by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall.
“Many non-governmental organisations have protested the beer festival as they do not want any untoward incident to take place in Selangor.
“But, it all went unheeded by the Selangor government.
“That was why I went to SUK yesterday to send a message to the Selangor government that there is nothing beneficial about drinking beer. It brings nothing but social ills.”
Jamal remained defiant over his action, vowing to continue to fight any attempt to hold a beer festival in the state.
“Although my friends and I have been arrested, we do not care. It will not dampen our spirits to fight for the beer festival to be banned in Selangor.
“I hope that the state government, under the leadership of Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, will not bow to pressure from DAP.
“The only party that would benefit is the organiser, who is from DAP, which will rake in millions of ringgit from the beer festival. That is why DAP is adamant for the event to go on. It seems unaware of what would happen if the event is allowed to take place. It will affect the people and youth of Selangor.”
Jamal had called for the beer festival to be banned, saying that it was not only the Malay Muslims who were against it as not all Chinese and Indians liked drinking beer. The Chinese, he added, did not like seeing their children participating in such an immoral activity.
Lawyer Khairul Anuar Kashim, who represented Jamal and his supporters, said Jamal had just concluded a meeting and was dining with the seven people, including his driver, bodyguards and employees, when they were arrested at a restaurant in Sekinchan.
“Jamal’s employees were at the SUK building for work and they are not his supporters. They have extended their cooperation to the police.”
Selangor Criminal Investigation Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Fadzil Ahmat said Jamal led a group of 25 supporters to protest against the Better Beer Festival 2017 at 10.15am on Thursday.
Fadzil said Jamal had smashed
10 crates of beer with a sledgehammer at the SUK building’s main gate.
Jamal had resorted to doing so after he was prevented from entering the building to deliver the crates to Azmin. He then left the scene in his luxury MPV without saying a word.
SUK enforcement chief Misnun Ramli had chased Jamal’s car, asking that the latter clean up the mess, but he was ignored.
A police report was subsequently lodged.