Keadilan should respect the verdict of Indera Kayangans voters and stop making allegations that its workers were violently assaulted by Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters during the recent by-election there, Perlis Umno youth chief Jamil Saat said today.

He was responding to an article in the latest issue of Berita Keadilan which said there had been a series of confrontations between the rival supporters with attacks on Keadilan party workers putting up posters.

The party organ also front-paged a photo of a Keadilan leader bleeding profusely while awaiting treatment. The article alleged he was beaten up by BN supporters during the by-election campaign.

Jamil told malaysiakini that given the its poor grassroots support in Perlis, Keadilan had only a slim chance of winning the Indera Kayangan by-election.

Unlike other opposition parties such as PAS, which have offices at branch and divisional levels, there is only one Keadilan office in Kangar. Even Keadilan leaders realised that nothing would stand in the way of BN winning the by-election.

With droves of Keadilan members leaving the party to join Umno shortly before the by-election, it was obvious that BN would win with a bigger majority. This was proved when BN won in all the seven polling areas, he said.

An excuse

Jamil dismissed the allegations of BN violence as an excuse to comfort party members who are disappointed with Keadilans poor performance in the by-election.

Actually, it was Keadilan members who provoked BN workers. When the BN workers retaliated, Keadilan workers would then lodge police reports against us, said Jamil.

Of course, the public definitely got the wrong impression when they saw some Keadilan workers being moved around under police escort as if they feared for their safety, he said.

Jamil also said he had received calls from unidentified persons threatening to burn down BNs operation rooms in Indera Kayangan during the by-election.

I chose to ignore them because anybody can make such calls to create a hostile environment during a by-election, he said.

He said it was important for Keadilan to learn to openly accept and respect the choice of Indera Kayangan voters.

When Keadilan won the Lunas by-election, BN accepted the peoples verdict. We did not point fingers at anybody. To us, that was what the voters decided and as such should be respected by all, said Jamil.