KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 ― Umno Youth has claimed that their recent weekday rally in Penang was “different” from other rallies, claiming it did not cause any nuisance to the island city.
The wing's vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun said the rally last week against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was exemplary of how peaceful protests should be as it was done according to the law.
“In essence, we were different from the rallies Malaysia is accustomed to. We exercised our rights within the parameters handed to us. We proved it was possible to spread across our message without having to stop the city and be of nuisance.
“What we stood for was the complete halt of future Bersih rallies as well as for Lim Guan Eng to step down as Chief Minister,” he said in a statement today.
Several hundreds of Umno Youth members clad in black shirts emblazoned with the Malay words “Pemuda Bangkit” or “Youths Rise” on October 26 rallied in Penang to demand Lim's resignation.
The group however was questioned for its use of leftist clenched fist symbol on its t-shirts, in addition for the similarity of its white fist on black logo with white supremacists in the USA.
They demanded that Lim resign due to the current corruption case pending against him and that the state government withdraw its support to Bersih 5.
Khairul went on to take a jab at polls reform group Bersih 2.0, claiming it has been made a tool for the Opposition to allegedly create ruckus among Malaysians.
“Bersih, as all Malaysians know, is far distanced from its claim of being non-partisan. For a while now it has been taken over by the opposition’s DAP and PKR, used as a political tool to segregate the community and ignite hate between the racial communities of Malaysia.
“It’s evident that the opposition now uses Bersih as a culmination of emotional hatred to the government, something that is more dangerous than it is helpful to our democracy,” he alleged.
Several Umno linked groups including Datuk Jamal Yunos' Red Shirts have already protested against Bersih 5 which is to be held on November 19.
The Red Shirts even announced a counter rally next week ahead of Bersih 5 and have gone around the country to stop the electoral watchdog's nationwide convoy.
