PH S’wak secretary: Identify, arrest culprits behind school bomb hoaxes

MIRI (Nov 24): The secretary of Pakatan Harapan Sarawak and Democratic Action Party Sarawak, Alan Ling, wants the authorities to go all out to trace and arrest the culprit behind the bomb hoaxes happening in the country of late.

In the last few days, several schools nationwide have been receiving emails informing them of bomb threats, with the latest being schools in Kuching and Miri facing the same threat on Wednesday.

Ling, however, praised the police for their swift action in handling the situation to ensure the safety of the teachers and students, by initiating security flushing measures with the cooperation of the schools’ management.

“This is rare but such an attempt to create fear and panic is disruptive to the learning processes and if not handled well, it will cause distress and even mental pressure.

“This is also a waste of police resources which could be spent more productively in controlling peace and order,” he said when met by The Borneo Post yesterday.

Ling, who is also a management board member of National Sports Council, appealed to the police and other relevant authorities to trace down the culprit behind the bomb threats and make them face the music.

“Such act should not be condoned. Our society should not be surrounded by the air of fear and be disturbed by such horrible acts.

“The act is considered as a provocative challenge to the authority of the enforcement agencies in Malaysia,” he pointed out.

Ling said he understands the advice to not be speculative of the bomb hoaxes, but reiterated that the public want safety assurance from the authorities.

“Unless such provocative act is stopped, it will be seen as mounting a challenge to the authorities.

“If such an act is not contained, it may spread and become a national security concern, which will affect every aspect of life, including trade and investment, which is bad to the country.

“As far as I know, the police have open investigation papers over the false bomb threats as there were a total of 37 reports as of 2pm yesterday (Wednesday).

“Thorough investigation is currently underway and we should all give some time for the authorities concerned to complete the investigation,” he said further.