Lawyers to take legal action against WhatsApp message writer over temple thug claim

PETALING JAYA: Lawyers Haniff Khatri and Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali will take legal action against the person who created the WhatsApp message, alleging them as being involved in hiring thugs in the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple riot incident.

"We will lodge a complaint with Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), to get to the source of the WhatsApp message and take legal action against the culprit," Haniff said in a press conference at his law firm on Thursday (Nov 29).

"We will also lodge a police report soon... within this week," he said.

Haniff was referring to a message on the WhatsApp platform which has gone viral, alleging them as being involved in hiring thugs who stormed the temple in USJ 25 on Monday (Nov 28).

He also said that the same action would be taken on a Facebook post published by Raja Petra Kamaruddin on Nov 28 at 12.28am.

The blogger's post includes a photo of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Haniff, with the wordings, "Misteri Nusantara", "One City Owners and Teresa Kok are close relatives", "Tun and attackers share the same lawyer", "and yet Sultan and Umno is being blamed?"

Haniff said all of these are fake and the allegations were made with bad intentions, hoping to stir hatred among races. 

On the Facebook post with Dr Mahathir, he said the allegation is "very wrong", as it intended to implicate the leaders of the country.

"I am a private lawyer for other cases. But this doesn't mean that I cannot manage other cases," he added.

Haniff also cautioned authorities and ministers to be careful about what information is shared to the public, in relation to the temple incident. 

"They should act more professionally as some of the details should not be shared to the public before the police conclude the investigation," he said.

"Such details give opportunities to those with bad intention to spread lies and allegations that could threaten the safety of innocent people," he said.

At the press conference, Haniff also clarified that he and Rafique were appointed by developer One City Development Sdn Bhd after the first incident on Monday (Nov 26).

The plot of land the temple sits on is owned by the developer.

He also urged the public to give space and time for the police to complete the investigation and not to believe to messages spread on social media.