Activist Slams Suria Klcc S Inaccurate Explanation For Thug Like Guards

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Suria KLCC’s management continues to come under fire over a recent altercation between its security officers and pro-Palestine supporters, with one activist dismissing the mall’s response to the matter as “half-baked”.
Taking to Facebook, Wan Fatin Suryanie Wan Ahmad lambasted the mall for claiming that its guards had merely acted in line with security procedures prohibiting wooden sticks on its premises.
The explanation, she asserted, is “inaccurate and disingenuous” as the mall’s “thug-like, unprofessional, and discriminatory” security personnel had also targeted people who carried other materials showcasing their pro-Palestine stance.
She also stressed that attendees of an earlier protest opposing US President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to Malaysia had only wished to enter the mall to wash up, have a drink, and pray - not stage a protest.
“We carried our paraphernalia, baby effigy, placards, keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf), pots, and a rolled-up Palestinian flag.
“Yet, at the entrance, guards in black suits behaving like thugs kept shifting the goalpost: first (by) not allowing the effigy, then the placards, then our mafla (a form of keffiyeh), (and) harassing my friend to get the rolled-up flag,” Wan Fatin said.
Activist Wan Fatin Suryanie Wan AhmadShe explained that former PKR lawmaker Tian Chua, who had also taken part in the initial protest, had then intervened and asked one of the security guards to explain what exactly was prohibited in the mall, to which the guard pointed to Chua’s mafla.
“(Chua) admonished (the guards by saying) it was unlawful to prohibit these items, but the guards escalated (the situation), rushing at us and even showing (Chua) disrespect.
“(A guard) told us to hand him the flag and just go in. We complied, but scuffles followed, leaving us shaken and traumatised,” she added.
‘Pattern of intimidation’
Affirming that another family was “rudely chased out” of the mall, with their young daughter “touched aggressively,” before Chua managed to push them through, she said such accounts confirm that issues with the mall’s security personnel were “part of a pattern of intimidation”.
As such, she accused Suria KLCC of taking issue with any symbol or paraphernalia displaying justice and humanity towards the genocide in Palestine.
“KLCC's treatment (towards) it, and peaceful Malaysians, reveals the true nature of the company's bias and moral distortion,” she claimed.
Former Batu MP Tian ChuaPreviously, Chua told Malaysiakini that the security officers were harassing the rally participants who wished to enter the mall after their gathering.
Following widespread uproar over the incident, which saw Chua eventually being roughly escorted out of the mall by several security personnel, Suria KLCC’s management defended its security team’s actions.
Their statement on the matter, however, did not sit well with the Malaysian branch of the pro-Palestine movement Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.
It said the mall’s reasoning does not hold water, as other patrons who wore keffiyehs or carried pro-Palestinian posters were also prevented from entering its premises. - Mkini

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