KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Lawyer and activist Siti Kasim today announced on Facebook an alleged threat against her life via a suspected “bomb” like object attached under her car.
In a video streamed live on her Facebook account from around 1.05pm, Siti said she had sent her car this morning to a workshop to be serviced, only to be informed that there was an object attached under her car.
In the video, Siti said the object was obscured from sight as it was behind one of the car’s tyres, describing it as being plastic bottles with wires inside that “looks like a bomb”, adding that it was “hooked” underneath her car.
“I think this is really crazy, that this attempt on my life is really happening,” she said in the video, saying she was “insignificant”, a “nobody” and just an “activist”.
While saying she was shocked, angry and scared, Siti however said that it would not deter her from speaking up as an activist.
In the video, she said she had called the police at around 1pm to inform them of the possible bomb threat.
In another video posted at 1.41pm on Facebook, Siti provided updates where the public was asked by the police to leave the workshop.
In the same video, Siti said she had received "a lot of death threats online" in the past, but had never experienced a threat like this before.
In another video also streamed live from around 1.59pm on Facebook, Siti showed that the workshop had been cordoned off with the police's yellow tape.
In that video, she also expressed confidence that the police will be able to catch the culprits who attached the plastic bottles to her car.
In a subsequent video also streamed on Facebook from 2.47pm onwards, Siti said that a bomb squad was present at the scene while her car was still inside the workshop.
Local daily Berita Harian reported that police had closed off almost the entire road near the service centre in Bangsar to enable the police's bomb disposal unit (UPB) to carry out tests to detect explosive materials with the assistance of Kuala Lumpur's Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (Bomba), to avoid any untowards incidents from happening.
According to Berita Harian, the police had around 4.45pm reopened the road from the direction of Bangsar heading towards Bukit Bandaraya.
Following the bomb squad's test, Brickfields district police chief ACP Amihizam Abdul Shukor confirmed that the two plastic bottles are suspected to be an "IED" — a term referring to a type of bomb known as improvised explosive device.
But Amihizam said the police have yet to be able to verify if the IED was still active and will send it to experts for analysis before a more detailed conclusion can be made. He said the police will carry out further investigations and also obtain information from all witnesses, and that
Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain was reported to have also been at the scene of the incident.
