Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussien should apologise for brandishing a keris instead of asking DAP and its international secretary Ronnie Liu to do so over a Merdeka day article, said party advisor Lim Kit Siang.

Taking the ongoing spat between the two parties further, the opposition leader had more advice for Hishammuddin.

"As education minister, he must not set the bad example of insensitivity or amnesia about the Umno Youth rally in Kuala Lumpur in 1987... with banners showing incendiary slogans like 'May 13 has begun' and 'Soak it (keris) with Chinese blood'," he said.

Hishammuddin's antics with a keris during the recent Umno general assembly had led to disquiet in the Chinese Malaysian community.

Addressing claims that Liu's article 'belittled' Tunku Abdul Rahman's role in the nation's struggle for independence, Lim claimed it is Umno Youth that is guilty of belittling the founding father of Malaya.

"In 2003, the government nearly forgot about Tunku's birthday centennial... if not for my pointed reminder," he said.

The article, which commented on Umno's low-key role in Malaya's fight for independence, also highlighted the role of the defunct Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) in fighting British colonialists.

Liu has since challenged deputy Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin to debate the article, but the latter declined.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that Hishammuddin has rejected calls for a debate on the matter.

"It is totally irresponsible and does not require a debate and does not even require us to entertain (the call for a debate). Just take the article out of the website," said Hishammuddin.

"As far as the article is concerned, my father (third prime minister Hussein Onn) was seen as a commandant of a police depot under the British and because of that he could not have contributed to the independence of Malaya.

"What kind of logic and substance is that which requires a debate? I would not stoop that low and I would suggest Khairy doesn't either," he added.

Nazi tactics

In a separate statement, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said Umno Youth was unable to show proof that the opposition party had disregarded the Tunku's iconic status as the father of independence.

Umno Youth has resorted to adopting tactics akin to those of German Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, he said.

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it... The truth is the greatest enemy of the state," Guan Eng said, quoting Goebbels.

"Umno Youth should prove that truth is not their greatest enemy by stopping such lies against the DAP. Has Umno Youth become so politically bankrupt that it has no other issues to fight for?"

Guan Eng also stressed that DAP has consistently and unquestioningly over the past 39 years recognised Tunku as the father of independence.

He also noted that DAP's commitment towards working within constitutional means was repeatedly criticised by the CPM.