SHAH ALAM, 3 June: The personal apology by the Umno Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin, regarding the riot incident by Umno members at the DAP headquarters, cannot be accepted because it was not done officially.
The Member of Parliament for Serdang, Dr Ong Kian Ming, said that the apology must be done openly as the Umno Youth members acted overboard, even threatening to burn the DAP headquarters and hurling at him parts of the memorandum.
He said that Khairy’s apology is also only for the damaged DAP signboard and not for the misconduct of his members.
“His failure to apologise for the thuggish behaviour of Umno Youth is improper for the Youth Chief who speaks well in front of the public.
“But unfortunately, he does not have the courage to acknowledge and condemn the behaviour, which is unacceptable and uncivilised by the Umno Youth members themselves,” he said in a statement.
Kian Ming said that although DAP supports the right for any group to organise peaceful assemblies in this country, he cannot accept the action or behaviour of threatening and using physical violence.
He also hopes that Khairy can provide a good example to the young people in this country by making a public apology and condemning the thuggish behaviour of his members.
“It is not sufficient (the apology) because he needs to publicly apologise.
“What if it was DAP members that attacked an Umno headquarters, damaged property then sent a personal letter to the Prime Minister to apologise, would that be acceptable,” he asked.
On May 22, over 50 members of the Umno Youth held an assembly in front of the DAP headquarters in protest of the statement by the Seri Delima Assemblyman, RSN Rayer, who used the word “celaka” (uncouth) to condemn some youth from the Penang Umno.
During the incident, they damaged the DAP signage in the front entrance and threatened to burn down the party headquarters.
