KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 — MCA hit out today against Umno for defending its youth wing’s recent rowdy demonstration at the DAP headquarters.
MCA religious harmony bureau chairman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker said mob rule or violence could not be justified at all, no matter how offensive or insensitive the remarks triggering the protests were.
“We are disturbed to read that there are public figures from within the Barisan Nasional coalition who not only are refraining from criticising the possibility of heated demonstrators descending into mob rule, but are actually condoning and justifying the Red Shirts’ heated march to the DAP Headquarters,” he said in a statement here today.
“Just because the protest consisted of a handful members of Umno Youth, it does not mean that Umno or BN (Barisan Nasional) condones or approves such uncouth, thuggish or mob-like behaviour.
“Leaders should stop justifying these reactions or overreactions giving these potential mobs any semblance or a legal moral right to ‘run amok’ at any issue they deem is a slightest provocation,” the MCA central committee member said in a rare show of defence for MCA’s political rivals.
Ti said that irrespective of how offended the mobsters were, the country was governed by rule of law and “not rule of the jungle,” and aggrieved parties should resort to proper avenues like raising a complaint or lodging a police report.
“Nobody may resort to vigilantism and take the law into one’s own hands” he said, referring to the Tuesday protest which had required the interception of the police’s Light Strike Force anti-riot squad to safeguard the people and the building along Jalan Yew here.
Earlier today, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor was reported to have defended the demonstrators’ behaviour, saying that he agreed with how the protesters reacted to the DAP.
He accused the opposition party of inciting religious and racial sentiments and of provoking the Muslim community through Perak DAP chairman Nga Kor Ming’s alleged Facebook posts on Hari Raya.
Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob from Umno also said yesterday that Umno Youth was merely defending Malay dignity.
Ti said today that no one, not even high ranking officers, had the right to “go berserk” or harass people in the name of race or religion, which he said was likely to encourage behaviours and a culture like that of the Islamic State terrorist group.
“More so, when race and religion are used as a superficial front to gather in large numbers and holler away pinpointing at a target. This is akin to animal instinct to gang together to pick on an easy target. Such loutish behaviour is bullying, uncalled for. It could have spiralled into violence, thereby disrupting the peace and security of the public,” he said.
Li said that political leaders must not allow such “jungle like” retaliation or agree to “kafir-harbi” tags.
“There are laws and penalties to handle any delinquencies or offences against race and religion. Quoting religious or racial sensitivities as a justification to commit another is a greater wrong and is morally and legally wrong.
“It is not a defence and does not render any groups or individuals any self-appointed to retaliate beyond the parameters of the law,” he said.
Last Tuesday, some 150 Umno Youth members and supporters dressed in red shirts gathered outside the DAP national headquarters to protest against Nga whom they accused of insulting Muslims through two alleged Facebook posts ― one featuring a caricature on the Muslim practice of giving out cash during the Hari Raya celebration in the form of “duit raya”, with the words “derma” and “dedak”, and another on a Hari Raya greeting with a picture of the United States flag and the saying “In God We Trust”.
Anti-riot police formed a human barricade to prevent the demonstrators from storming into the DAP’s offices to submit their memorandum of protest, with protesters attempting unsuccessfully to ram the barricade.
Nga has since been called up by the police for questioning next Monday on the alleged Facebook posts.
