Teargas attack on Mahathir in KB Airport despicable and must be condemned by all Malaysians

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Friday) The despicable teargas attack on former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport in  Kota Baharu on his arrival this morning must be condemned by all Malaysians in the strongest possible terms as it represents a culture which is completely unacceptable and must not be allowed to take root in Malaysia.

However strongly or even viscerally one disagrees with another, and undoubtedly Mahathir is the object of   powerful sentiments of both animosity and support, there can be no excuse for such a  physical attack on another person .

The police should be able to instantly bring to book the culprit or culprits who perpetrated the attack on Tun Mahathir, not so much because he was the former Prime Minister for 22 years but because like any other  Malaysian, he  should have freedom of movement, speech and expression without fear of loutish and gangsterish elements taking the law into their own hands.

(28/07/2006)