Opposition claims politics behind Ronnie Liu charge - malaysiakini

By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 - The DAP claims political motivation behind this morning's charge against their Selangor executive councilor Ronnie Liu.

Liu, 49, was charged at the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court under Section 109 and Section 186 of the Penal Code at 9.40am with abetting customers and workers of a hotel in Puchong in trying to stop Mohamed Hadzlin Zulkepli from closing down the hotel on Nov 2 last year.

He pleaded not guilty.

"This is the first such charge in this country to my knowledge. It is strange as the charge sheet does not name who Liu was to have abetted," Liu's lead counsel Gobind Singh told reporters in Parliament. Gobind is also the DAP MP for Puchong.

According to Kelana Jaya MP, Loh Gwo-Burne, no one has been charged with the actual obstruction.

Liu, who was also in Parliament, said that no one can fault Malaysians for believing that there is something behind the charge as he has a standing defamation suit against former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo for publicly making allegations over the same matter.

Klang MP Charles Santiago concurred, pointing out that Khir Toyo had also gone after Seputeh MP Teresa Kok with allegations of her asking a mosque not to make azan calls to prayer.
There is a game plan, he claimed, stating that there was a need to be careful as Khir Toyo was stoking Malay-Chinese sentiments.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang commented that if convicted, Liu stood to lose his state exco position as he would also be ejected from the Selangor state assembly.

A political leader in Umno has been pressing on this matter, he said, referring to Khir Toyo, who is running for the Youth chief post in the March party polls.

"Is he making use of the prosecution to show Umno Youth that he is capable of fixing up Liu?" he added.

Lim also said that while the deputy pulic prosecutor had called it a serious case, it has taken over a year to take any action on what the Ipoh Timur MP called a newfangled charge.

PJ magistrate Mohamad Ibrahim Mohammad Ghulam granted Liu, a DAP central committee member, bail of RM3,000 in one surety and set Feb 10 for mention.

Liu, the Local Government, Study and Research Committee chairman, was arrested at the state secretariat building in Shah Alam last Wednesday and released on RM2,000 bail on the same day. - The Malaysian Insider