Members of political parties should not act like thugs as this will not only give a bad image to the party but leave a negative impression on the society.

Universiti Sains Malaysia Social Science Studies Centre lecturer, Prof Dr Ahmad Atory Hussain said such behaviour would be akin to teaching the society that it was alright to break the law.

"Political parties should not promote gangster-like behaviour," he told Bernama.

He added that through studies he had done, this behaviour was normally prevalent among grassroots members.

Ahmad Atory was commenting on reports of incidents, purportedly carried out by thugs of political opponents, which included damaging public properties.

Rivals oppose blindly

Commenting further, Ahmad Atory said gangster-like behaviour should not be allowed to go on, stressing that it would create a bad impression not only on the perpetrators but also the party which they belong to.

He also viewed such behaviour as reflecting the level of political maturity in Malaysia, which he said was still relatively low given that widespread slander was still being used, and the opposition was resorting to a blanket denial of the government's efforts.

He said this should not happen in a fast developing country like Malaysia.

"In other countries, they disagree only in Parliament. In Malaysia, the opponents would always say the government is wrong. They oppose blindly.  

"There are good examples in other countries such as in Australia. They only campaign to oppose their opponents during an election. This is maturity and should be emulated by our politicians," he said.

- Bernama