This is no joke or laughing matter. The people of Penang and Malaysia are entitled to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Why did the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah and Cabinet Ministers leave the stage at the Barisan Nasional Chinese New Year bash on Monday after waiting forlornly and in vain for over five minutes for Korean K-pop sensation Psy to join them for the “toss yee san” ceremony.

Najib should clarify whether he left the stage at the Penang BN CNY bash for fear of his life and whether Psy’s life was also threatened.

Initially, the Penang Gerakan Youth chief Oh Tong Keong had as good as blamed the MCA Tourism Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ng Yen Yen for causing the yee san fiasco, resulting in shame and indignity to the nation when the Prime Minister, former Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers were publicly embarrassed waiting for five minutes in vain for Psy to join them.

Oh told the press, as reported by Malaysiakini reporters Lee Way Loon and Low Chia Ming in “No Psy, BN left red-faced during yee sang toss” that “a minister” (and everybody knew the Minister referred to is Ng Yen Yen) had told the emcee “ad hoc” to invite Psy to toss yee sang, without informing the organising committee ahead of time, who were unable to brief the South Korean pop star of the yee san programme.

But this initial version of the yee san fiasco was contradicted and overruled by the Penang Barisan Nasional chief Teng Chang Yeow who came out with a new version, rubbishing the claim that Ng Yen Yen’s “ad hoc” instruction to the emcee had caused the fiasco by alleging that an attempt on Psy’s life had forced Najib to leave the stage.

Teng went further and alleged that there was also an attempt on Najib’s life!

This is a very flippant and irresponsible approach to grave issues of security for the country’s Prime Minister and for a VVIP – the Korean superstar.

If these two allegations are true, why were they revealed only four days after the event – when BN leaders were desperately trying to cover up the public relations and political disasters of the BN’s RM3.5 million Psy and Gangnam Style appearance at their Penang CNY programme?

BN leaders should not underestimate the intelligence of the Malaysian men and women in the street, as illustrated by the following reactions on Malaysiakini:

“CiViC: Thank you Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow. If not for your stupid statement, I wouldn’t have searched for the embarrassing video on YouTube showing BN repeatedly inviting K-Pop singer Psy to come up on stage for the ‘lo shang’ during the Chinese New Year concert in Penang.

Teng, if there was a threat to Psy’s life, the emcee wouldn’t have called for him time and again to appear.

Just&Fair4All: The would-be assassin must either be insane or plain stupid to attempt to kill Psy in front of thousands of people and in the presence of the PM and other dignitaries, many of whom were accompanied by their bodyguards.

Secondly, if Psy life’s was in such grave danger, how come right after the show, he and his entourage visited a Korean restaurant on their own without police protection.

Thirdly, if the police really have news that someone was going to assassinate Psy, do you think they would allow Psy to walk around town on his own? What if really something were to happen to the internationally famous artist?
Geronimo: This is really, really pathetic to come with such an excuse as to why Psy did not want to ‘lo shang’ with the BN leaders.

Let’s admit it. It was a public relation exercise that went atrociously bad resulting in a slap on Najib’s face. So to save face, they have to come out with lame excuse like this to win sympathy from the public.

Hah Thiam Khean: BN is too incompetent to be an event organiser, too incompetent to concoct a coherent lie to cover up their incompetence, but it wants us to believe they are competent enough to run the country? Are we even living on the same planet?”

The Penang State Police Chief Deputy Comm Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi said that the police had imposed tight security measures when Psy arrived at the Penang International Airport at 6.15 a.m. on Monday, but from Teng’s version, it would appear that the organisers were only told that security was an issue just during the “toss yee san” ceremony, resulting in the “yee san” fiasco.

Who is telling the truth?

May be there should be a public inquiry as to what actually happened at the “toss yee san” ceremony, why the Prime Minister, former Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers suffered the shame and indignity of having to wait forlornly and in vain for the Korean superstar to join them in the ceremony on stage.