RED shirts’ leader Jamal Md Yunos today blamed Bersatu members for the chaos at yesterday’s Nothing to Hide 2.0 forum, where slippers and water bottles were thrown at Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad. 

The Umno division chief denied that he was the mastermind behind the fracas and insisted the violence was planned by people from Bersatu, which Dr Mahathir heads.

“We knew it from the beginning, after the commotion erupted, that (they) would put the blame on Umno, to show that it was Umno who did their dirty work. The incident had been planned,” he said at a press conference in Ampang today.

After yesterday’s incident, Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said the three youths arrested on suspicion of inciting unrest at the forum were not members of Bersatu Youth but had turned up in T-shirts with the Bersatu logo.

Jamal said he also proof that the chaos was started by Bersatu members. 

“I was informed by Bersatu members about the planned incident, I have proof. Even Dr Mahathir knew about it and agreed (with the plan),” he said.

Pressed by reporters, Jamal said he would furnish the proof soon, “in the next one or two days”.

He said he would organise a third  Nothing to Hide forum in September, in which he planned to invite PH leaders, such as Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng and Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Nothing to Hide was the title of a forum held at the Umno headquarters at Putra World Trade Centre in June 2015, where Prime Minister Najib Razak was to have addressed allegations against him involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

But the event was stopped by the police after Dr Mahathir, then still an Umno member, turned up unexpectedly and began to speak.

The name has stuck since and the forum yesterday was to have seen Dr Mahathir and Najib in an open debate, but the prime minister did not attend.

The three youths arrested after yesterday’s fracas were today been remanded four days to assist police investigations. – August 14, 2017.