KUALA LUMPUR: Batu Member of Parliament P. Prabakaran was allegedly involved in a spat with Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Dr Edmund Santhara Kumar following the former’s attempt to visit Taman Sri Murni, which has been placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO).
Prabakaran said he and his officer had gone to Taman Sri Murni at around 4pm to check on his constituents following the EMCO’s implementation. He said he had been inundated with phone calls from residents who needed basic essentials like food, rice, milk powder and others.
Prabakaran claimed he was visiting the operations centre in the area when he was stopped by a policeman from entering. This, he claimed, was because Edmund was chairing a meeting inside the ‘war room.’
“I waited for them to finish. When the policemen eventually said I could enter the room, I went in to convey what the residents’ immediate needs were.
“He (the minister) screamed at me in front of other officials, saying I had breached the MCO (Movement Control Order) laws and questioned what I was doing there.
Prabakaran said he was shocked as he only wanted to help his constituents in the area.
He said he then left the room and did a Facebook Live video to relate what had transpired.
He claimed that halfway through his video, two policemen on motorcycles arrived and called him back to the operations centre, saying it was on the instructions of the deputy minister.
Prabakaran said he did not want to return to the centre following the exchange with Edmund. One of the policemen then told him to follow him to the Sentul police station for questioning.
The MP said that at the time of writing, he has been at the station for more than two hours but has yet to be told the reason for being brought there.
According to a report by Malaysiakini, Edmund's private secretary R. Dineshwaran denied that the deputy minister was rude towards Prabakaran and rejected claims that there was an argument.
The report quoted Dineshwaran as saying that Prabakaran had entered the room when Santhara was chairing a meeting with the police and health authorities on matters related to the MCO.
"YB (Santhara) had told him politely to wait until the meeting ended to discuss whatever matters he has.
"He lied," Dineshwaran was quoted as saying in reference to Prabakaran's account of the events.
Meanwhile, Edmund, when contacted, said he would be holding a press conference at the crisis management centre tomorrow afternoon.
The Sentul district police has yet to respond to inquiries at press time.