‘Dr M, organiser should take responsibly over fracas’

PUTRAJAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the organiser of the ‘Nothing to Hide 2.0’ forum must take full responsibility for the fracas that occurred during the programme yesterday, said Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

He said blaming others, specifically Umno and the Barisan Nasional, was irresponsible of them.

The commotion occurred as Dr Mahathir was asked a question on the Memali incident that took place in 1985 that resulted in the deaths of 18 people, four of them policemen.

Mahdzir said that though the Memali incident happened a long time ago, it had left a deep impact on the family members and villagers in the area.

” We do not know, maybe the person who asked the question was personally affected or his family had something to do with the incident,” he said at a press conference after presenting prizes to winners of the InterDivision Choir Competition held in conjunction with Independence Month 2017 organised by the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture Association ( MESCA) here yesterday.

Mahdzir was commenting on allegations that Barisan Nasional and Umno had orchestrated the incident during the programme organised by the Youth wing of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) in Shah Alam, which had to be postponed after shoes, chairs, flares, slippers and water bottles were thrown while Dr Mahathir was answering a question on the Memali tragedy.

He said there should not be such wild allegations because the programme should not have even been held in the first place as it was merely to give Dr Mahathir a chance to speak for the sake of political mileage.

Mahdzir condemned the fracas and violence and hoped the police would investigate to find out the cause and identify those responsible. — Bernama