Kit Siang seeks public’s help for evidence of Ali Tinju’s Low Yat speech

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — Dissatisfied with the Attorney-General’s reason for dropping the sedition case against Mohd Ali Baharom, Lim Kit Siang today urged Malaysians to help produce the evidence needed to prove that the army veteran had uttered allegedly inflammatory remarks during the Low Yat Plaza incident months ago.

In a statement, the DAP adviser said AG Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali’s claim that there had been insufficient evidence to charge Mohd Ali or “Ali Tinju” was unacceptable.

“The Malaysian public are not interested in the game of ‘passing-the-buck’ between the police and the AG’s chambers as to who was responsible for the shabby leg work as to result in the inability of the Attorney-General to prosecute Ali Tinju for sedition,” Lim said.

In an interview with The Malaysian Insider carried today, Mohamed Apandi reportedly explained that the recording of Ali Tinju’s speech during the July incident had not been sufficient to build a case against the ex-soldier.

“The actual recording was not enough. It was only a few seconds... We missed the ‘seditious’ part.

“They (the police) couldn’t find it. It wasn’t forthcoming. I told them, ‘this isn’t enough, go find more’. They said, ‘cannot find’. So that put an end to it,” he was quoted saying.

Lim, however, disagreed.

In his statement, he also reproduced what Ali Tinju allegedly said during the racially-charged incident, before urging the public to come forward with evidence of the former soldier’s speech.

“As Apandi has said that the police could not come up with the audio recording of Tinju Ali’s alleged inflammatory remarks outside Low Yat Plaza in July, I call on the public to help the police and AG to produce evidence of Ali Tinju’s speech in the Low Yat riots.

“Members of the public who have such evidence can either hand them directly to the police or through the DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng, who has agreed to perform the public service to receive such evidence from the public and to hand them over to the police,” Lim said.

Police had arrested Mohd Ali in July for allegedly making the racially-charged speech prior to the riots outside Low Yat Plaza in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

During the incident, a video went viral of a man ― at the time believed to be Mohd Ali ― addressing a group of people gathered in front of the mall and inciting them.

In the video, the man said the gathering in front of Low Yat was to seek justice and to uphold the dignity of Malay youths.

The individual also proclaimed the country to be “bumi Melayu” or Malay land, and that the Malays must be united to stand against “rude DAP Chinese” in the country.

The sedition charge against Ali Tinju was later dropped, however.