KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 — The national police chief ordered today an investigation on a tweet that accused Umno of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in the May 13 and Kampung Medan race riots.

A Twitter user with the handle @bvadivel, who describes himself as a design director on his profile, tweeted a reply to Penang executive councillor Dr Afif Bahardin from PKR, who had criticised Barisan Nasional (BN) for rejecting an Opposition motion in Parliament to debate the Rohingya issue.

“@afifbahardin 1969 ethinc cleansing kaum cina di KL. 2001 ethnic cleansing kaum india di kg medan. Both by umno nazis,” read the tweet by @bvadivel this morning.

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In response, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar called for an investigation.

“PCIRC @PDRMsia kesan tweet handler ini dan ambil tindakan kerana menghasut dan salah guna media sosial,” the IGP tweeted on his @KBAB51 handle, using the initials for the Police Cyber Investigation Response Centre (PCIRC).

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[Translation: PCIRC @PDRMsia track this tweet handler and take action for incitement and for abusing social media].

The May 13, 1969, race riots saw clashes mainly between the Malays and the Chinese that left scores dead, while the May 2001 Kampung Medan riots involved clashes between the Malays and the Indians that killed six people.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang attended a rally in Kuala Lumpur this morning to call for justice for the Rohingya amid an army crackdown in Rakhine, Myanmar, that killed dozens and displaced thousands of people.