UPDATED
@ 02:07:08 PM 14-09-2012
September 14, 2012
Lim at the press conference today. — Picture by Choo Choy May
Ahmad Habib, who made a surprise appearance at a press conference
with Lim this morning, told reporters that based on his memory of the
residence’s layout, it would have been “impossible” for the politician
to have survived committing the offensive act.
“On any normal day, I believe no unauthorised person would have been able to enter the compound, let alone do some funny business like urinating on a flagpole. It would be practically impossible.
“If a person tries to do this, I do not think he would have gotten away scot-free... he would have been arrested, hurt or even killed,” the father of two told the press conference.
Ahmad
was speaking today in support of Lim’s denial that he had even been
present in Kuala Lumpur when the May riots took place in 1969.
“On any normal day, I believe no unauthorised person would have been able to enter the compound, let alone do some funny business like urinating on a flagpole. It would be practically impossible.
“If a person tries to do this, I do not think he would have gotten away scot-free... he would have been arrested, hurt or even killed,” the father of two told the press conference.
Witness Ahmad Habib made a surprise appearance. — Picture by Choo Choy May
The issue was raised earlier this year following reports that the
controversial movie “Tanda Putera”, to be released this November, on the
re-telling of the May 1969 incident features a scene depicting Lim as
having urinated on a flagpole of the then Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk
Harun Idris’s residence.
An administrator of filmmaker Pesona Pictures’ Facebook fan page had posted a photograph of Lim being “manhandled”, with a caption asserting it was taken after the opposition leader allegedly urinated on the flagpole.
On August 15, the film’s director Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba denied reports that the movie features such a scene but Lim immediately refuted the latter, pointing out that the photograph on Facebook “was posted in the album in the ‘Tanda Putera’ Facebook titled ‘Peristiwa-peristiwa yang dimuatkan di dalam filem ini’ (Events depicted in this movie).”
Lim has also denied that the Facebook photograph of him was taken in 1969, claiming instead that it was a picture of him at the Kota Kinabalu airport in 1984 when he was denied entry into the state by immigration authorities.
At today’s press conference, Ahmad explained that he happened to be within the vicinity of the Selangor mentri besar’s residence on May 13 “by accident”, and had taken refuge for some 10 hours in an unknown individual’s house for some 10 hours when the bloody clashes erupted.
Ahmad explained that he happened to be within the vicinity of the Selangor mentri besar’s residence on May 13 “by accident”, and had taken refuge for some 10 hours in an unknown individual’s house for some 10 hours when the bloody clashes erupted.
He said that after the police declared that it was safe to return to the streets in the early hours of May 14, he had walked some 200 metres from Lorong Raja Uda 1 to Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz where the mentri besar’s house was located.
“There were a lot of people there. It was a huge compound. From inside, we saw the setting of the house. It was fully fenced and there was a guardhouse there. So I presume that with the guardhouse, there would definitely be someone manning this place,” he said.
Ahmad said the distance from the gate of the mentri besar’s home to the flagpole was some 20 metres, repeating that it would not have been possible for Lim to have traversed the distance just to urinate on the flagpole.
The businessman stressed to reporters that his decision today to debunk the incident was not for political reasons.
“I read about the incident on Malaysiakini that he (Lim) was accused of urinating at the flagpole. I was there at the house so I know the situation at the house and I know that this is not correct.
“As a responsible citizen, I have a duty to set the record straight,” he said.
Ahmad admitted that he had no proof of his presence inside the mentri besar’s home that day but insisted that there were many others who had been there at the time who could likely confirm his memory of the compound’s layout.
Lim later told the press conference that his lawyers were still in the process of preparing his defamation suit against the filmmakers of “Tanda Putera”.
He also urged more eyewitnesses who were at the Selangor mentri besar’s house on May 13 to come forward with their accounts of the incident.
An administrator of filmmaker Pesona Pictures’ Facebook fan page had posted a photograph of Lim being “manhandled”, with a caption asserting it was taken after the opposition leader allegedly urinated on the flagpole.
On August 15, the film’s director Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba denied reports that the movie features such a scene but Lim immediately refuted the latter, pointing out that the photograph on Facebook “was posted in the album in the ‘Tanda Putera’ Facebook titled ‘Peristiwa-peristiwa yang dimuatkan di dalam filem ini’ (Events depicted in this movie).”
Lim has also denied that the Facebook photograph of him was taken in 1969, claiming instead that it was a picture of him at the Kota Kinabalu airport in 1984 when he was denied entry into the state by immigration authorities.
At today’s press conference, Ahmad explained that he happened to be within the vicinity of the Selangor mentri besar’s residence on May 13 “by accident”, and had taken refuge for some 10 hours in an unknown individual’s house for some 10 hours when the bloody clashes erupted.
Ahmad explained that he happened to be within the vicinity of the Selangor mentri besar’s residence on May 13 “by accident”, and had taken refuge for some 10 hours in an unknown individual’s house for some 10 hours when the bloody clashes erupted.
He said that after the police declared that it was safe to return to the streets in the early hours of May 14, he had walked some 200 metres from Lorong Raja Uda 1 to Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz where the mentri besar’s house was located.
“There were a lot of people there. It was a huge compound. From inside, we saw the setting of the house. It was fully fenced and there was a guardhouse there. So I presume that with the guardhouse, there would definitely be someone manning this place,” he said.
Ahmad said the distance from the gate of the mentri besar’s home to the flagpole was some 20 metres, repeating that it would not have been possible for Lim to have traversed the distance just to urinate on the flagpole.
The businessman stressed to reporters that his decision today to debunk the incident was not for political reasons.
“I read about the incident on Malaysiakini that he (Lim) was accused of urinating at the flagpole. I was there at the house so I know the situation at the house and I know that this is not correct.
“As a responsible citizen, I have a duty to set the record straight,” he said.
Ahmad admitted that he had no proof of his presence inside the mentri besar’s home that day but insisted that there were many others who had been there at the time who could likely confirm his memory of the compound’s layout.
Lim later told the press conference that his lawyers were still in the process of preparing his defamation suit against the filmmakers of “Tanda Putera”.
He also urged more eyewitnesses who were at the Selangor mentri besar’s house on May 13 to come forward with their accounts of the incident.
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