TELUK INTAN, May 23 – The protest by Umno Youth members outside the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday was a spontaneous reaction in their defence of the party’s honour, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
The protest also follows another in Penang where Umno members stormed into the state assembly building in search of DAP lawmaker RSN Rayer from whom they planned to extract an apology.
“They have to understand that it was a reaction,” Muhyiddin told a press conference at Kampung Orang Asli Erong here today.
“Parti yang dicabar tidak akan berdiam (a party challenged will not stay silent),” he said in explaining the incident.
The deputy prime minister and Umno deputy president, however, reminded members of the Malay nationalist party to obey the law in the course of such protests.
“We want to defend our party’s honour. But we must follow the rules. We can’t break the law,” he added.
Yesterday, a group of about 50 members from the Kuala Lumpur chapter of Umno Youth reportedly demonstrated in front of the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur over Rayer’s remarks in Penang.
The group also threatened to burn down the DAP office and reportedly vandalised property belonging to the opposition party.
When debating the Governor’s speech on Tuesday, Rayer uttered the words “celaka Umno” (damn Umno), triggering outrage among the party’s lawmakers.
On Wednesday, several Umno members trespassed into the Penang state assembly while it was in session, demanding an apology from Rayer but left frustrated.
Rayer remains adamant he will not apologise for the remark, saying yesterday that he has been called worse by Umno leaders.
*NOTE: A previous version of this story erroneously reported Muhyiddin as defending the arson threat. That, and his quote on the matter, have been corrected. The error is much regretted.
