Khairy dubs DAP rep ‘coward’, maintains Umno Youth wrong to storm assembly

(Malay Mail Online) – Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin today mocked DAP representative RSN Rayer for declining to repeat a slur against Umno despite refusing to apologise for the remark that led to an intrusion of the Penang assembly.

Accusing the Penang assemblyman of taking advantage of the immunity granted to words uttered by lawmakers inside legislative assemblies, Khairy said Nayer had clearly said the offending words knowing he could not be punished for them.

“I condemn the mannerless DAP assemblyman RSN Rayer who remains arrogant in his refusal to apologise for his excess in ‘damning’ Umno and its members.

“Curiously, he refuses to repeat the phrase outside the assembly… The conclusion is the representative enjoys ‘selective courage’ or, in plainer words, is a coward,” he said in a statement today.

But the youth and sports minister also repeated his rebuke of Umno Youth members for their part in the storming of the state assembly yesterday while attempting to extract an apology from Rayer.

Saying that he supported their bid to pressure the Seri Delima assemblyman into retracting his words, he reminded them that the effort must be based on legal means and without forcibly intruding into the assembly grounds or threatening public order.

“The intrusion into the House is still wrong,” he added.

When debating the Governor’s speech on Tuesday, Rayer uttered the words “celaka Umno (damn Umno”, triggering outrage among the party’s lawmakers.

The incident later prompted a group of some 50 Umno and Umno Youth members to protest outside the state assembly before forcing their way onto the grounds and into the House to hunt down Nayer for an apology, before leaving frustrated.

The police later said they had detained 12 men to assist in investigations, aged between 22 and 35 years. All 12 were released on bail at 1am this morning.

Today, the Penang assembly passed a five-point motion demanding, among others, criminal charges against the intruders.

The incident is being investigated under Section 448 and 427 of the Penal Code for “house trespass” and “committing mischief and damages”.