KOTA KINABALU: A supposedly peaceful assembly to demand water turned ugly when several participants began yelling at Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya.
The #KamiMahuAir rally organised by Suara Mahasiswa saw the crowd walk from Universiti Malaysia Sabah at 2pm towards Menara Kinabalu.
Among members who participated in the campaign were UMS students, Taman Kinarut Ria residents and several non-governmental organisations.
As they were relaying their messages in front of Menara Kinabalu, Shahelmey and state Assistant Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Fairuz Renddan arrived to meet with the rally-goers.
However, one of them raised his voice against the duo as he refused to let them "interfere" with the programme.
"We are voicing the people's voice now. Can't you both wait and listen to us," he said, cheered on by several others.
As the situation escalated, police stepped in to calm things down before it could get more aggressive.
For brief moment, Shahelmey was seen to lose his cool.
When asked about the response from the rally-goers, Shahelmey, who is also state public works minister, said he came down to see them on behalf of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
"I am just a normal citizen. I am listening to them. But, it seems that they don't respect this.
"They seem to be playing their own game to get media coverage," he said, adding that the government would continue to address the water woes but these would definitely not be solved overnight.
Rally organiser Hamdin Nordin, 23, from Sandakan, however, defended the rallygoers rudeness.
He said "rude" was a subjective term.
"A peaceful assembly is when we do not bring any weapons. As for uttering bad words, it is subjective," he said, adding that the rally will continue until tomorrow so that they could hand over a memorandum to Hajiji.
When district police chief Assistant Commissioner Kasim Muda informed them that Fairuz had conveyed a message that Hajiji said he would meet them next week, the rally-goers refused to leave.
Speaking to reporters, Kasim said the rally was under control as it was a small number of people.
"For now, they just sit here and we will let them voice out (their feelings). Of course, they do not have permission but we are handling them.
"After this, we will open (an investigation) paper... if the court will not take action against them, as district police chief I can compound them," he said, adding that the number of policemen stationed in the area was more than the number of rally-goers.