Umno Youth’s arson threat a price DAP must pay, says Zahid

Umno Youth's threat to burn down the DAP headquarters last Thursday is the price the party must pay for allowing its members to utter derogatory words, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

"The actions of Umno Youth are a manifestation of the anger of Umno Youth's leaders. Feeling hurt is not something that can be avoided," the Umno vice-president told reporters at a press conference in Teluk Intan.

"I want to remind all parties to respect other parties and not to use any words that could hurt the feelings of others.

"I am worried that a high price must be paid if you misuse words like what Rayer did."

Armed with banners, some 50 Federal Territory (FT) Umno Youth members protested in front of the DAP headquarters in Jalan Yew in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

They had threatened to burn the building and DAP leaders claimed the mob had destroyed the party’s signboard.

The mob was reacting to DAP assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer’s “Umno celaka” (Umno be damned) remark at the Penang legislative assembly sitting on Tuesday. – May 24, 2014

No hope left for Umno if violence their only recourse, says Guan Eng

If making threats to burn buildings and killing others is the way to go for Umno, there is no hope left for the party, says Lim Guan Eng (pic).

The DAP secretary-general said there would be no hope for Umno as a government and for its leaders.

He said for the first time, an Umno Youth leader had made an arson threat at DAP's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

"Is this the liberal face of Umno, its openness when its members threaten to burn down the DAP's headquarters and kill the office staff?

"We want to ask Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin if this is how he teaches his members to lead," he said today at the Penang legislative assembly, which adjourned sine die earlier today.

Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, said he was shocked that a group of Federal Territory Umno Youth members stormed the DAP headquarters yesterday.

The protest, held to censure the DAP's Seri Delima assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer for uttering the remark “Umno celaka” (Umno be damned) during the Penang legislative assembly sitting on Tuesday, was led by Federal Territory Umno Youth chief Mohd Razlan Mohd Rafii.

The group went to the headquarters to hand over a memorandum censuring Rayer but when (DAP strategist and Serdang MP) Dr Ong Kian Ming went out to receive the document, Razlan tore it up in front of the DAP leader and threw it at him.

DAP mouthpiece The Rocket reported that Razlan shouted at Ong and said: “Ingat, sekali lagi saya dengar anda hina parti, saya akan bakar bangunan ini.” (If I hear another insult against my party, I will burn this building.)

The group also damaged a billboard outside the building bearing the party's rocket logo.

Lim said he could not understand Umno Youth or Umno’s approach.

"Now they think that insolence and violence are the way out for them to save themselves and to retain the people's votes.”

Lim said party members have been told not to retaliate when it was clear that what happened was aimed at disrupting the DAP's campaigns in the ongoing Bukit Gelugor and Teluk Intan by-elections.

"Even our candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud in Teluk Intan has been harassed by Umno's samseng (thugs). So we can see now that Umno has sent many thugs from Kuala Lumpur to Penang," he said.

While Dyana was harassed by thugs while campaigning, the Penang assembly on Wednesday was almost under siege by a group of protesters looking for Rayer to force an apology out of him. – May 23, 2014.