Kedah exco now claims victim of kidnap plot

Kedah exco now claims victim of kidnap plot

Tuesday, 03 February 2009 00:42
(The Malaysian Insider) — Kedah state executive councillor V Arumugam today claimed he has been a victim of a kidnap plot and other threats since he was elected in the general elections, saying he believed these are attempts to get him to defect from Parti Kedilan Rakyat to the Barisan Nasional.

The Bukit Selambau assemblyman said he has lodged a police report about the threats to him and his current and previous aides.

“Individuals have been sent to to persuade me to leave PKR with several lucrative offers. And the latest visit was a few days ago,” Arumugam said in a press statement released here today.
He claimed that he was the target of a kidnap attempt last Oct 17 but did not give details. He said the incidents began after the elections with several phone calls last March 31 that threatened his family’s safety and a threat tied to a brick that broke the windscreen of his official Proton Perdana with the number plate BKL 4000 on Dec 17.

“The events that befell my two fellow PKR exco in Perak has made me come forward to disclose this,” Arumugam said, alluding to Perak state executive councillors Jamaluddin Radzi and Osman Jailu who had been missing for five days.

Arumugam also said he was worried for his and his family’s safety if he kept the threats a secret and urged the police to investigate all his police reports and take immediate action to secure his family’s safety.

“This will allow me to serve effectively and efficiently as a state executive councillor and an assemblyman,” he said.

Arumugam, who garnered 13,225 votes against MIC candidate S. Krishnan’s 10,863 votes, ran as an independent and joined the Pakatan Rakyat state government on condition of being appointed a state executive councillor.