BLAMING Umno for the violence at the Nothing To Hide 2.0 is hardly going to make a dent in Selangor Umno’s efforts to wrest back the state from the opposition, party grassroots leaders said.

Selangor Umno Information chief Zein Isma said the incident had revealed Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) “true colours” and could be a potential boon in their struggle to take back the country’s richest state.

“There is no effect at all, Selangor Umno doesn’t think the incident will affect Barisan Nasional’s (BN) chances to win Selangor in the next general election.

“We even view the incident as something positive as it creates an opportunity for us and the people can now see that all this while they have been duped by the opposition,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Members of both sides of the political divide have been blaming the other for instigating the chaos at Sunday’s forum, where shoes and water bottles were thrown while PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad was taking questions from the public.

Chairs and lighted flares were also thrown about the hall, which caused panic.

Police today blamed Bersatu, which Dr Mahathir heads and which organised the forum, for security lapses at the event.

But the episode has provided political fodder for both BN and PH to accuse each other. In particular, Dr Mahathir, a former prime minister, has been criticised for failing to answer questions at the forum satisfactorily.

Zein, however, said the fracas was not the only incident Selangor Umno would use in its campaign against the PKR-led state government. There were other factors such as administrative and policy issues that could help their cause.

“There are too many issues plaguing the state, like housing, dengue, assessment tax payment, high land premium charges that burden the people and also the cost of living,” the Subang division chief said.

Shah Alam Umno division chief Azhari Shaari said the people were tired of the opposition always blaming Umno for untoward incidents.

“It’s normal, the blame is on Umno for everything that happens. You can say anything but you cannot simply accuse us of causing the trouble.

“Because from my observation, PH genuinely has problems among themselves and Tun (Dr Mahathir) wasn’t really being transparent in answering the questions. I think that’s why the crowd retaliated,” he said.

Dr Mahathir was answering a question on the siege of a militant group in Memali, Kedah, in 1985, in which a PAS leader was killed. He has been blamed for the incident by PAS, as it occurred when he was prime minister.

Another Umno division chief from Sungai Besar, Jamal Yunos, who was initially accused of being the mastermind behind the ruckus, claimed more opposition supporters had turned to BN because they disagreed with the PH leadership lineup led by Dr Mahathir.

“These are Anwar Ibrahim’s supporters, who are not satisfied that Anwar is now working with Dr Mahathir,” Jamal said, referring to the PKR de facto leader who was sacked by Dr Mahathir as deputy prime minister and charged with sodomy in 1997.

“We are confident that this factor is good enough for Selangor Umno because the people (who attended the forum) were staunch supporters of Pakatan Rakyat when Anwar was sacked. And when their leaders accepted Dr Mahathir, they don’t agree and now are back with Barisan Nasional.”

Thirteen people are now in police custody over the fracas at the forum. – August 16, 2017.