Umno has to take a stand on the statements made by its division chiefs during and ahead of the Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu rally, said former Umno supreme council member Saifuddin Abdullah.

Otherwise, Umno would be seen as sending message to the public that some people are allowed to make such statements for Umno’s short-term gains.

He said this referring to Kota Bharu Umno chief Fatmi Che Salleh who made a speech in the lead-up to the burning of effigies of DAP leaders Lim Guan Eng and Lim Kit Siang, Ketereh MP Annuar Musa who had justified racism on basis of Islam, and Sungai Besar Umno chief Jamal Md Yunos who told former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad that he should come to the rally if he is "Malay enough".

Saifuddin noted that these are division leaders and do not necessarily represent the party’s views.

On the other hand, he added, Umno leaders had made a big issue of a few "commoners" who had stomped on portraits of Umno president Najib Abdul Razak and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

“Three division leaders are not (mere) commoners, they are part of the decision-making process of Umno. So I think Umno has to make a stand, otherwise you are sending a mixed signal to the public.

“For the sake of so-and-so or short-term gains, then some people may be allowed to do certain things, or rather, you are sending the signal that you have ‘good cops’ and ‘bad cops’, so some people say all the nice things, some people are allowed to say whatever they like for short-term gains,” said the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation CEO.

Double standards by Najib and police

Saifuddin was speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur today, when met at the sidelines of The Liberalism Conference organised by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas).

The former higher education minister said he disagreed with Fatmi, Annuar, and Jamal’s statements.

He added that although Jamal ( photo ) has the right to disagree with Mahathir, the language he used was not appropriate.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin also slammed the double-standards in Najib’s and the police’s treatment of the Bersih 4 rally on Aug 29 and 30, and the Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu rally on Sept 16.

“The prime minister (Najib) said Bersih 4 is ‘demo-crazy’, but the red shirt was all good and legitimate, but the two are the same. Both are peaceful assemblies.

“The way the police treated Bersih 4 and the way they treated the red shirts were also different, meaning one has a permit and the other doesn’t, whereas under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, the issue of permit doesn’t arise. Why do you use such different arguments?” he said.

Najib is also the patron of the GMM Foundation.

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