Say sorry over ‘assault’ claim, Wee told

G Vinod | March 27, 2012-FMT

DAP says the police had told a Chinese daily that there was no witness to the claim that Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong was nearly assaulted during a rally.

UPDATED

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP has called on Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong to publically apologise for claiming that he was almost assaulted in a rally on Sunday.

Referring to a report in China Press today, Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai said Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah had said that his 30-strong men at the scene could not confirm if there was an attempt to assault Wee.

“Hisan reportedly said that there was no witness that can substantiate Wee’s claims that someone had tried to assault him,” he added.

However, the report did not mention whether the investigation over the matter was complete.

Also present at the press conference were DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, vice chairman M Kulasegaran and Bukit Mertajam MP Chong Eng.

On Sunday, Wee was heckled by thousands of United Chinese School Committees Association (Dong Zong) supporters near the New Era College in Kajang, claiming the government had failed to resolve the shortage of trained teachers in Chinese schools.

It was alleged that one participant tried to punch Wee.

Wee, on the other hand, said yesterday that he would not lodge a police report on the matter as he had forgiven those who tried to harm him.

Tan later accused Wee of trying to use the incident to gain public sympathy and divert people’s attention from the issue at hand, which was the shortage of teachers in vernacular schools.

“And Wee should also apologise to Dong Zong for insinuating that the organisers failed to provide adequate protection for him on the day,” he said.

Speaking to reporters later, Wee rubbished DAP’s call, saying he was the victim in the incident.

“There are photos showing people throwing newspapers which hit the back of my head. One picture even shows a bottle being hurled at me which narrowly missed my head. You call that a peaceful assembly?” he asked.

Commenting on the police chief’s remark, the MCA Youth chief said just because nobody saw the attempted assault that does not mean it did not take place.

“How can you come up with such a conclusion without a probe? Just because your officers say so?” he added.