KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — A spokesman for the #Merah169 rally has downplayed the “Cina gila babi (crazy Chinese pig)” insult hurled at a reporter yesterday, saying that the Chinese should feel no slight in the remark since they consume pork.

Umno leader Datuk Jamal Md Yunos further argued that the remark was only insulting to the Malays, as Muslims were forbidden from eating pork.

“Don’t make that an issue, for Malays the word pig is sensitive.

“But for the Chinese what is the problem? It is their food,” Jamal told a news conference here.

Jamal heads the so-called Coalition of Malay NGOs responsible for the “Red Shirt” aspect of the rally as well as its alternate “Himpunan Maruah Melayu (Malay Dignity Rally)” name.

Yesterday’s protest was marred by sporadic outbreaks of racism, with one attendee recorded calling a reporter “Crazy Chinese pig”, among other insults.

Late into the rally police said were attended by as many as 50,000 people, Federal Reserve Unit officers used water cannons on protesters trying to force their way past a security cordon at Petaling Street.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday criticised unruliness at the #Merah169 rally, saying that police should investigate the incident that marred an otherwise uneventful protest.

Political parties today lodged various reports over incidents at the rally, demanding police probe attendees for sedition over banners containing racial remarks as well as calls for the abolition of Chinese vernacular schools.

Thousands of red shirted people were bussed into the federal capital yesterday for the rally officially called “Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu” or the United People’s Assembly, but which caused concern among traders in the city centre and ethnic Chinese business leaders.

The rally, said to be in support of Najib’s leadership, was to counter last month’s mammoth two-day Bersih 4 gathering calling for the prime minister’s resignation.

The ruling Malay party has insisted that it does not endorse the event, which has also been alternately called “Himpunan Maruah Melayu”, but did not prohibit its members from participating in the demonstration organised by martial arts group Pesaka.