As part of its reports leading to tonight’s New Year’s Eve price hike protest at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur, Malay daily Utusan Malaysia reports today the arrest of the maker of a homemade bomb in Ampang last night.

It is not clear how this arrest is related to tonight’s protest, but the Umno-owned daily says that the 51-year-old man was carrying a pipe bomb, commonly described as an “improvised explosive device” (IED), when detained at Taman Halaman.

The Utusan report quotes unnamed police sources as saying that the man is part of an ‘Ah Long’ (loan shark) syndicate and that he has nine previous convictions.

"We are still investigating the purpose of the bomb. Based on early information, the suspect made the bomb at a temple, where he stays, a month ago," the newspaper quotes the police source as saying.

Utusan said "it is possible that the bomb is intended for the illegal gathering at Dataran Merdeka".

The police source said the suspect, however, confessed that the bomb was made for a drug purchase.

City Hall concert at Dataran Merdeka

"Therefore, we are investigating whether he may use it as a weapon while drug dealing or for calling back loans," the source is quoted as saying.

Selangor deputy police chief Abdul Rahim Jaafar confirmed to reporters today that they had caught a suspect carrying a homemade bomb last Sunday.

He was hauled up last night and would be remanded for three days. The “46-year-old” man was being investigated under Section 8 of the Explosive Devices Act (1957), police said.

The report on the Police Facebook page however did not establish a link between the bomb suspect and the rally tonight.

To usher in 2014, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has paid RM350,000 for a free concert party, from 8 tonight at Dataran Merdeka, a Sinar Harian report today says.

It said DBKL expects 40,000 people to throng the open field .

At the same time, freshly-minted NGO Turun, comprising mostly youth groups, intends to assemble at Dataran Merdeka for a sit-in protest against the rise in cost of living as prices of goods and services, from highway toll charges to electricity and public transport fares, are due to rise from tomorrow.