You are on you own! That was Barisan Nasional candidate Arif Shah Omar Shah's message to all reporters and photographers covering the Permatang Pauh by-election.

He said that these journalists must look after their own safety.

"Look after your own safety while covering the event. I sympathised with two photographers who were set upon by several people while covering the nomination yesterday," he said today after visiting the injured photographers.

nst journalist reporter photographer attacked in permatang pauh 170808 Yesterday New Straits Times photographer Mohd Sairen Mohd Nafis and French photographer Halim Berbar were assaulted by a set of people, allegedly Pakatan Rakyat supporters.

Mohd Sairen suffered bodily injuries and lost his digital camera, while Halim sustained head and leg injuries.

According to a Bernama report, Arif Shah has expressed concern over the safety of the journalists on duty for the by-election which is on Aug 26.

He also said that he regretted that some supporters of the opposition had used violence against photographers covering the event.

Earlier today, PKR's candidate for the by-election Anwar Ibrahim had blamed the mainstream media for jumping to conclusion that the perpetrators were Pakatan supporters.

He said that PKR will launch an investigation into the attack on the two photographers to determine if they were party supporters in the first place.

"The mainstream media, (such as state-owned) RTM, will immediately apportion the blame to us. I say, let us investigate and punish those perpetrators, irrespective they are from Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional," he added.

Wedding campaigns

Meanwhile, both Arif Shah and Anwar today took their election campaigns to several wedding functions.

Arif Shah, also the Seberang Jaya state representative, had 10 wedding invitations and Anwar had six.

Arif Shah told Bernama that wedding functions provided an effective means of getting closer to the electorate.

arif shah bn candidate permatang pauh walkabout 170808 He started his campaign today by visiting several villages, including one which housed Chinese vegetable gardeners. He then took part in a ‘gotong-royong' at a mosque in Kampung Petani near Permatang Pauh.

"They were surprised by my presence but received me well," he told Bernama .

Anwar, in his wedding rounds, was accompanied by his wife and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

The by-election sees a three-way fight among Arif Shah, Anwar and Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia (Akim) president Hanafi Mamat.