Ali Tinju's provocations becoming habitual, should be locked up

PETALING JAYA - MCA has hit out at army veteran Mohd Ali Baharom, better known as Ali Tinju, for staging another protest at the Kota Raya shopping complex with the aim of teaching cellphone traders a lesson.

MCA vice-president Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said Malaysians, especially traders and customers in the Bukit Bintang, Petaling Street and Kota Raya vicinities, were tired of these provocations “which were turning habitual”.

Chew said the threats would severely affect business as tourists would avoid protest-prone areas.

“Dropping the sedition charges will only encourage him to hold more rallies,” Chew said in a statement.

“The authorities appear to consent or condone his racially-charged language, hence emboldening him,” she said.

On Friday, Ali Tinju, who is an Umno branch chairman, accompanied by some 20 people, held a protest in front of the shopping complex in retaliation to an alleged incident where a customer was locked up in a room for four hours after refusing to pay for overpriced handphones.

Earlier, Ali Tinju was acquitted and discharged by the Sessions Court for using seditious words during a riot in Low Yat Plaza in July.

Chew said the police and Kuala Lumpur City Hall should ensure that any protest complies with requirements under the Peaceful Assembly Act, or else the authorities would be accused of practising double standards.

She agreed that traders should not confine customers “against their will”, adding that the victim could lodge a police report on his “unwarranted detention” or file a complaint with the Consumer Claims Tribunal.

MCA Youth chief Senator Chong Sin Woon urged the public, in particular Chinese handphone traders, to ignore the bigoted racially-charged exhortation by Ali Tinju.

“All Ali Tinju does is pounce on any opportunity to start a demonstration to crave attention to himself by playing up the race card just to whip up communal frenzy against an imagined and non-existent-but-created enemy.

“His slurs are not only provocative but he has once again racially profiled the entire Chinese community.

“His remarks are crude and not beneficial towards healing the wounds from the Low Yat Plaza fracas but are designed towards stirring discord, distrust and prejudice against all Malaysian Chinese in general,” he said in a statement.

Chong said in any community, there would be a few “bad apples” taking advantage of consumers by jacking up the prices of goods.

However, he said such a peculiarity was not confined to the Chinese but prevails in any ethnicity.