Tunku Ismail reiterates: 'No link to acid attack on footballer'

Summary

• Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim expresses disappointment over attempts to link him to negative incidents in the country.

• Taking to Facebook, he chides accusations of being involved in the recent attack on a punk band vocalist in Johor Bahru and last year’s acid attack on footballer Faisal Halim.

• Tunku Ismail believes his critics were uneasy with his influence and tells them to learn to live with it.

Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim today reiterated that he has no link to the acid attack against national footballer Faisal Abdul Halim.

In a Facebook post directed at his critics, Tunku Ismail expressed disappointment at attempts to link him to various negative incidents that happened in the country.

These include a recent assault at a local punk concert in Johor Bahru, which saw a band vocalist injured after he was beaten up by a group of men.

“Naturally, some people tried to tie it back to me. A local punk concert, no less. Do I strike you as someone who spends his evenings headbanging at underground punk gigs?

“And of course, with the Faisal incident, there were whispers and speculation suggesting my involvement.

“Let’s be clear: neither I nor JDT (Johor Darul Ta’zim football club) need to resort to such low and cowardly acts. I’m a military man, if I had something to say or do, I wouldn’t hide behind such idiocy.

“It seems that anything and everything that happens must somehow be traced back to me. Fascinating, isn’t it?” he said.

In an incident on May 5 last year, Faisal was seriously injured after he was splashed with acid outside a shopping mall in the Klang Valley.

The attack left Faisal with fourth-degree burns and required four surgeries.

Following the incident, Tunku Ismail had publicly denounced allegations linking him to the crime.

“Some are saying that TMJ is the mastermind, but what has it got to do with me?” he had asked, pointing out that the Selangor FC winger is not a threat to the JDT team.

‘Live with it’

In his Facebook post today, Tunku Ismail said he believed his critics were unhappy with his growing influence.

According to the regent, in his position, influence is not a choice, and it will only grow stronger, and he advised his critics to “learn to live with it”.

“The real issue here, I suspect, is not what I’ve done, but the fact that I can. Influence, in my position, is not a choice; it’s an inevitability. And the more time passes, the stronger it gets.

“So here’s my humble advice: Learn to live with it… or try your best to finish me off. Because I’m not going anywhere. I'm here to serve my state and elevate,” he said.

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