Armed with banners, some 50 Federal Territory (FT) Umno Youth members protested in front of the DAP headquarters in Jalan Yew in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon before handing over a memorandum to party strategist Dr Ong Kian Ming. – Pic courtesy of Ong Kian Ming, May 22, 2014.DAP has condemned the behaviour of a group of Umno Youth members who threatened to burn down the opposition party's headquarters, saying that they are no different from "gangsters".
They also called on the Malay party and its leaders to censure its members for "uncivilised actions" in making such threats and for destroying the DAP's signboard featuring its logo.
It also wanted Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin to apologise for the behaviour of his members.
National organising secretary Anthony Loke said while he respected the rights of the people to assemble and express their views, what the Umno Youth members did was unbecoming.
"They behaved like typical gangsters. This is typical of Umno Youth being violent, rude and rough," he told The Malaysian Insider.
Armed with banners, some 50 Federal Territory (FT) Umno Youth members protested in front of the DAP headquarters in Jalan Yew in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon before handing over a memorandum to party strategist Dr Ong Kian Ming.
They had threatened to burn the building and DAP leaders claimed the mob had destroyed the party's signboard.
Police were there to monitor the situation and control the crowd from getting out of hand.
The protestors had come to denounce DAP Penang's Seri Delima assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer who had uttered the words "Umno Celaka" against the Malay party in the state assembly sitting yesterday.
His use of the derogatory term sparked massive protests in Penang as well, which saw the legislative assembly being disrupted for the first time in history yesterday.
Police stand guard in front of Penang state assembly hall today as tensions escalate over Seri Delima assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer’s ‘celaka Umno’ remark. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Hasnoor Hussain, May 22, 2014.Loke called on all members and supporters to stay calm, stressing that they will not stoop to Umno's level.
"They are trying to create a scene and hoping to provoke us but as far as we are concerned, we will not fall into their trap," he said.
DAP vice-chair Teresa Kok said both incidents in the Penang assembly and at the party's headquarters showed that Umno Youth was trying to look for issues and exaggerate them to create chaos.
"Such barbaric and dangerous conduct must be viewed seriously by both the police and the prime minister. Those involved must not go unpunished. The prime minister must condemn such conduct to show zero tolerance for such unprecedented and dangerous behaviour," she said.
Ong said they will lodge a police report against the FT Umno Youth wing for destruction of property.
"I urge Khairy Jamaluddin to condemn such uncivilised actions," he said in referring to the wing's youth chief.
"We also want the police to take action."
He said besides the threats, the mob also used uncivilised language and shouted at both him and DAP staff who were there to receive their memorandum.
"They also did not hand over their memorandum but tore it up in front of me and threw it at my face.
"After collecting the envelope, I could only find half of their memorandum inside the envelope," he said. – May 22, 2014.
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