Soon Li Tsin
Apr 25, 07 7:20pm[from Malaysiakini.com]
Parti Keadilan Rakyat candidate for the Ijok by-election Khalid Ibrahim escaped unhurt after a group of unidentified men accosted his entourage during campaigning at the constituency today.
PKR Klang division chief P Krishnasamy, 46, was assaulted by the group in the incident.
According to Krishnasamy, Khalid (left) and a group of his supporters were on a campaign trail at Ladang Coalfield near Ijok, when suddenly a group of about 10 men told them to leave the estate’s housing area.
The men then allegedly started raining blows on Khalid’s group. Krishnasamy identified one of the assailants as a person known as Balakrishnan. He is believed to the the MIC Tuan Mee branch chairman.
“They punched me, tore my shirt and broke my spectacles,” he said.
“I quickly told our group to get Tan Sri (Khalid) out of here,” he added.
Krishnasamy, who heads the PKR operations centre at nearby Tuan Mee, and three others were still locked in by Balakrishnan at the estate’s gated area at press time.
“We’re still here and we are waiting for someone to get us out so we can lodge a police report,” he told malaysiakini by telephone.
However, an hour later it is learnt that the group was able to leave the area and Krishnasamy said that they were in Ijok police station to file a complaint.
Not the first time
Khalid when contacted for comment, said the harassment started after he visited 20 houses.
“These people got upset and said they were going to close the estate gates and told us to get out.
“From Krishnasamy’s point of view, he said we should finish visiting the houses first and then leave but then they started to push him around,” he said.
When it started to get violent, the PKR group quickly escorted Khalid to safety.
This is not the first time intimidation tactics have been used on Khalid during campaigning.
Last week about 20 people, including some in Pemuda BN uniform, allegedly tried to intimidate him and two freelance photographers, one of them being blogger Jeff Ooi.
Khalid will be contesting against Barisan Nasional’s K Parthiban for the Ijok state seat in this Saturday’s by-election.
