KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Ibrahim has rejected allegations that he was the mastermind behind the acid attack on national footballer Faisal Halim in May.
The crown prince known as Tengku Mahkota Johor (TMJ) who owns the Johor football club called JDT said that he did not have any problems with Faisal who currently plays for the rival Selangor football club, news portal Astro Awani reported today.
“First of all, this boy is a good boy. I don't know about his personal life, but we should ‘condemn’ things that happened to him. But what does that have to do with me?
"Until I was accused as the mastermind behind the incident. We JDT played against Selangor last year 4-0 (beat Selangor), 4-0, 2-0 and Faisal Halim played. So Faisal Halim is not a threat to me.
"He's a good player, he's a national player and he's a friendly person. But we don't know his personal life, we don't know the agenda behind the attack,” he was quoted as saying in a live podcast session at the Johor Youth Meet-up Program at the Educity Sports Complex in Johor Baru yesterday.
On May 5, the Terengganu-born Faisal was splashed with acid by an unknown person at a shopping mall in Petaling Jaya, Selangor and suffered burns on the neck, shoulder, hands and chest.
His injuries also restricted his movement and speech and require several rounds of surgeries.
Tunku Ismail said that Faisal is only a football player and not a criminal who should be targeted.
"If I want to eliminate people, I have a bigger target in this country. Like those who take the people's money... who cause trouble for the people.
"These people are the criminals who should be eliminated and not footballers.
"That's the kind of thing people want to say about me. Throwing acid like a ‘bapok’, like ‘soft’.
"Recently, I heard that the Selangor team bus was attacked in Jakarta, is that my fault too? Not everything is my fault. Faisal is a good person and he is not a threat to us," he was quoted as saying.
