Kuala Lumpur, Jan 29- Unidentified persons armed with a parang and an iron rod today trespassed into the Tamil Malar office here, destroyed some equipment and injured an employee.
Their motive remains unclear, but the injured worker, M Ravindran, told reporters they claimed to be followers of a prominent spiritual guru.
Witnesses said the four intruders, who appeared to be Indian men, all wore crash helmets. They showed up at about 11.30am. While one of them waited on the ground floor, the other three rushed up to the first floor and smashed up office equipment and furniture.
Tamil Malar publishes a daily newspaper. Its office is in Jalan Ipoh.
Ravindran said only he and two other employees were in the office at the time.
“We were shocked by the sudden ambush,” he said. “They used a parang and iron rod to smash a number of computers and glass doors in the office.
“They said they were followers of ‘Guruji’.
“One of them asked me where he could find our managing director, SM Periasamy, while the rest entered the accountant’s room and took her hand phone and money.
“They also stole another hand phone, belonging to our front desk officer.
“They spoke rudely to us, using derogatory words. They warned Tamil Malar not to write about Guruji again.”
Tamil Malar was launched last August and is known for its criticism of V Balakrishnan, the founder of Rajayoga Power Transcendental Meditation Centre. He is often referred to as ‘Datuk Seri Guruji’.
Periasamy told reporters he regarded the attack as an attack on the media.
“We are a neutral Tamil daily which publishes news of public interest,” he said. “It is not right for anyone to approach us in this way.”
The veteran newsman said he did not discount the possibility that the attackers were indeed followers of Balakrishnan, as they claimed.
But he also acknowledged that they could be merely using his name without actually being his followers.
Tamil Malar is also well-known for articles criticising Batu Caves Temple Committee chairman R Nadarajah.
This was not the first time that Tamil Malar was the target of attackers claiming to be Balakrishnan’s followers. Last year, a police report was lodged against several people for creating a disturbance at the newspaper’s office. Those attackers also said they were supporters of “Guruji”.
“There were a few other similar incidents in which the targets were people opposed to Guruji,” Periasamy said. “These included a molotov cocktail attack at the Malaysia Hindu Sangam office in 2010.
“But at the moment, we do not want to accuse anyone.”
He said he would lodge a police report.
-FreeMalaysiaToday
