The image of a Bersih protester apparently holding a knife appeared on the New Sunday Times and Berita Minggu after the July 9 rally. -- PHOTO: NEW STRAITS TIMES PRESS
The photo of the man at the Bersih rally in Kuala Lumpur showed him in a T-shirt with a black cloth wrapped around his face. He was depicted hurling an object with his left hand while holding what appeared to be the handle of a knife in his other hand.
The photo, which the opposition has charged was doctored, was published on the front pages of the Malay-language Berita Minggu and its sister paper the New Sunday Times one day after the rally in support of clean and fair elections.
The picture was used by the newspapers to show that a small number of protesters were bent on violence, which was why the gathering had to be stopped by the police. The government has said this was why police had to use water cannon and tear gas.
Mr Abdul Razak Endut, speaking at an event held by opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) in KL last Saturday, claimed to be the man in the picture. He said he was holding a Malaysian flag, not a knife, and was throwing a tear gas canister away from protesters, not hurling a rock at the police.
'When the Federal Reserve Unit (riot police) fired tear gas... I picked up the canister and tossed it to a grass field,' he was quoted as saying by the Malaysiakini website. Mr Abdul Razak, a member of PAS volunteer corps that helps to control crowds during rallies, said he had joined others in forming a human shield to prevent police advances on demonstrators, the website said yesterday.
The image of him resisting water cannon spray with a national flag was captured by Reuters and has been used to dismiss claims that it was a knife.
Last Tuesday, an opposition senator demanded an apology from the New Straits Times Press, owner of the two publications, for 'doctoring' the photo. The paper has rejected the claims.
