After the apology by 19-year-old Ong Sing Yee yesterday, her mother Wong Siew Lan also tendered an apology to all Malaysians over her daughter's act of stepping on a photograph of the prime minister.

NONE Wong, 42, told an Utusan Malaysia reporter who went to her house in Johor Baru yesterday that she was not aware of the incident as she does not read newspapers.

She said she was shocked when Ong informed her, through a text message, that she had been detained by the police.

"I don't know what to say, just shocked and disappointed with what had been done.

"I believe she was influenced by friends or other individuals to do such an act and I apologise on her behalf," Utusan quotes Wong as saying.

Wong hoped her daughter would return home as soon as possible to explain the incident in detail to the family.