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Malaysia insists safe for tourists after wedding brawl
Malaysian Tourism Minister
10/24/2005
Malaysia's Tourism Minister Leo Michael Toyad has assured visitors that the country is safe in the aftermath of the involvement of a Malaysian royal in a vicious brawl with tourists on a resort island.
"We are truly shocked to hear that this has happened in a Malaysian tourist resort island," Toyad said in a statement to the official Bernama news agency last Friday.
He said the police were investigating the case and that the culprits would be brought to justice.
Toyad assured tourists that the incident was an isolated case and that Malaysia remained a safe place to visit.
"The incident goes against the very grain of the ancient tradition of warmth and friendliness in the country," he said.
A Brazilian couple were holding their wedding dinner on Rawa island off southern Johor state last October 15 when a group of drunken gate-crashers, including a member of Malaysia's Johor royal family, assaulted guests with golf clubs, sticks, stones and a knife.
Guests told the Malay Mail that the leader of the gang started the fracas when he punched a female guest, one of 90 attending from all around the world, for refusing a dance.
Police arrested last Thursday four local men, including the Johor royal. They were released on bail but may be charged next week, the New Straits Times said.
The incident was the latest in a series involving the royal family of Johor whose sultan, Mahmood Iskandar, has a long history of violent behaviour.
He sparked a constitutional crisis when he hit a hockey coach, prompting parliment to remove the traditional legal immunity of all the rulers in 1993.
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AFP
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