KUALA LUMPUR — The people who bashed the suspect who stole a mobile phone that led to the brawl at a mall in Kuala Lumpur should be prosecuted to avoid “anxiety among Malay grassroots”, Utusan Melayu, a newspaper owned by United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) said yesterday.

At the same time, the paper’s editors writing under the collective pseudonym, Awang Selamat, warned that the mall, Low Yat Plaza, is a “bomb waiting to explode” if the authorities do not tackle the purported counterfeiting, gangsterism and corruption that is associated with the traders there.

Mob violence broke out among some 200 people who had gathered at Low Yat Plaza on July 12. “Conduct investigations especially into the symptoms of gangsterism and corruption. Expose and arrest anyone involved even if they are holding high positions,” the editors wrote. “If drastic action is not taken, Low Yat Plaza will remain a bomb waiting to explode.”

The mob gathering at Low Yat Plaza reportedly stemmed from rumours spread through social media claiming that a Malay youth was cheated by an ethnic Chinese trader who sold him a counterfeit smartphone.

The youth’s companion was said to have contacted their friends, who then assaulted workers from a mobile phone store and caused an estimated RM70,000 (S$25, 150) in damages later in the day.

The fracas and subsequent rumour prompted a mob to gather outside Low Yat Plaza the day after the youth’s arrest to demand “justice”.

Authorities including the National Security Council, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Attorney-General’s Chambers must launch a crackdown in order to defuse the unhappiness over the situation, Utusan’s editors added.

Opposition Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) Lim Kit Siang yesterday voiced rare agreement with Utusan Malaysia in its claim of the continued risks of unrest over unresolved resentment following last week’s Low Yat Plaza riots. The lawmaker said the lingering threat was not limited to the vicinity of the shopping mall.

“I say it is not just Low Yat Plaza, but the whole of Malaysia is a time bomb waiting to explode if race hatred, religious tolerance, breakdown of rule of law and the collapse of good governance are not resolved urgently,” he said.

Police have maintained the crime was not racial in nature, and have classified it as a theft case involving an unemployed 22-year-old who was later charged with stealing a RM800 (S$287) phone from an outlet in Low Yat.

The incident, which left five people injured, caused some observers to draw parallels with Malaysia’s deadly race riots of May 13, 1969. AGENCIES