What is it with the so-called youth leaders in Umno and their obsession with burning down buildings?

Is arson part of the instructions in their party handbook of what to do whenever they feel they are being provoked?

Three years ago, Umno Youth demonstrated outside the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur and threatened to raze it to the ground in retaliation to Suqiu's general election appeal to drop the distinction between bumiputera and non-bumiputera.

At the Umno general assembly a couple of days ago, a similar call to arms was heard when the outgoing Puteri Umno head voiced outrage at a cartoon in PAS' Harakah that, among others, displayed the striking resemblance of a pig's snout to Dr Mahathir Mohamad's nose (or is it the other way round?), with a large dose of exaggeration, of course.

The chief princess said (and I quote from The Star): "The Home Ministry should cancel their permit and even burn down their office."

Here, Azalina Othman has gone one level higher than her male peers: not only is she okay with arson, she even thinks the government should be okay with it.

For the benefit of the uninitiated, the cartoon was divided into two panels: the first had the word Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and a pig below it in question mark; the second had the word Sar (People's Religious Schools) and a caricature of the prime minister underneath it.

In striving to make the cartoon a clever play and comparison of words and pictures, its creator Zunar did not appear to notice the fundamental flaw in it: Its very first 'premise' that implied Sars came from pigs, was all wrong, hence defeating the comparison to the second.

Yes, the cartoon is offensive, but certainly for more reasons than the feudalistic Puteri Umno head has identified.

In any case, the cartoon has backfired on its creator, for possibly scaring Chinese votes, putting off the middle-ground Malay Malaysians and stimatising pork-eaters.

So there's really no need for Azalina to suggest that the Home Ministry burn down Harakah's office. Lastly, allow me to congratulate Puteri Umno on getting a new head soon. Make it one that's screwed on tight, ya?