SABAH police have arrested nine individuals in connection with a brawl near a Chinese-owned glass manufacturing plant in the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park yesterday.
Kota Kinabalu police chief Mohd Zaidi Abdullah said the group, which included nine Chinese nationals, all factory workers, were arrested after they were called to have their statements taken regarding the incident at 3.30am on Tuesday.
“We received a report regarding the brawl around 10.22pm on Monday.
“We believe the altercation stemmed from dissatisfaction when one of them deliberately bumped shoulders while they were queuing up to go home after work.
“The confrontation escalated and a brawl ensued, with some resorting to the use of wooden objects as weapons.
“As a result of the altercation, one local worker sustained minor injuries to both knees. The skirmish was successfully diffused by security personnel and other factory workers,” he said in a statement last night.
A 44-second video of the incident had also gone viral.
News reports quoting the police report lodged by one of the individuals involved in the fight stated that the foreigner had deliberately bumped the shoulder of his local colleagues before the brawl ensued at the Chinese-owned, SBH Kibing Solar Materials Sdn Bhd.
Police are now investigating the case under Section 148 of the Penal Code for rioting.
The incident also garnered the attention of Sabah’s Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe, who said that employers must mediate any rift between the locals and foreign employees.
He also dismissed allegations that the brawl had been related to late salaries as what had happened in a brawl at a nearby plant owned by Korean company – SK Nexillis’s copper foil plant – in April last year. – The Vibes, February 28, 2024.
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