Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin stole the show today at the Burmese embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The young politician overshadowed a protest march against the Burmese military regime - organised and led by four youth groups.

About 150 members of 14 youth and religious organisations and a small number of political parties - making up the 'Malaysian Youth Coalition for Peace and Freedom in Burma' - marched from the Victoria Station restaurant in Jalan Ampang to the Burmese embassy about 600m away.

"Stop the violence! Free Burma," chanted the marchers who, apart from Khairy, included other Umno Youth leaders such as Reezal Merican Naina Merican, Mukhriz Mahathir and Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim.

Once they neared the embassy gate at about 11am, plans changed all of a sudden and Khairy was thrust into the limelight. He was requested to do the honors of reading out the memorandum.

It was originally supposed to have been read by Stephen Doss, who chairs two of the event's main organising groups - the Young Malaysians Movement and National Association of Malaysian Youth.

Looking surprised and reluctant, Khairy, however, accepted. He expressed solidarity with the people of Burma and urged the military junta-led government to respect human rights and democracy.

"Please do not take these demands lightly as the movement for peace in Burma will continue in Malaysia and around the world until the ruling regime stops the violence and releases the democratically-elected leader of Burma Aung San Suu Kyi and enter into negotiations with her," he said.

He added that while the sovereignty of each Asean country is respected, it is nevertheless the responsibility of all member nations to ensure peace and stability in the region.

A delegation later went into the embassy to submit the memorandum to Burmese envoy Win Myint.

'Hijacked' by Umno Youth

This was the latest in a series of protest gatherings held in Malaysia to express opposition to the military-junta which has ruled Burma with an iron fist since 1990.

Many have also expressed outrage over the latest crackdown against peaceful dissent and pro-democracy activists.

At least nine people were killed last week, including a Japanese freelance journalist, by security personnel after hundreds of thousands of Burmese took to the streets to demand an end to military rule.

At the Burmese embassy this morning, several members of the youth coalition expressed surprise at the way the event had turned out, particularly the sudden leadership role of Umno Youth.

"I was quite surprised because I initially thought it would be a NGO-led event. I was taken aback to see so many politicians," said one member of the Malaysian Interfaith Network.

Another notable presence in the march, opposition party PKR information chief Tian Chua also expressed unhappiness.

Tian said he was upset with the way it had been "hijacked" and turned into an Umno Youth affair.

Doss, whose group organised the event, said the original plan was for him to read the memorandum. The procession was, furthermore, supposed to have been led by the NGOs.

Expressing surprise with the large turnout of Umno Youth members, Doss said he gave the Umno Youth a slightly bigger role than planned in order to "give everybody" present a role to play.

"There's no question of anybody taking over or hijacking anything," he added when contacted.

DAP was also there earlier

Earlier, opposition party DAP also handed a memorandum to Myint expressing the Young Progressives Southeast Asia's concern over the violence. The memorandum was jointly-written by the International Union of Socialist Youth-Asia Pacific.

The group, bolstered by the presence of about 25 Burmese demonstrators, were watched closely by more than 60 police personnel and officers, including about 30 members of the Light Strike Force.

The Young Progressive Southeast Asia, a regional youth group, slammed the use of force by security forces.

"We strongly condemn the Burmese military regime's use of brute force to crush the peaceful demonstrations of the Buddhist monks and Burmese people," it said.

It urged the regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to exert political pressure and impose economic sanctions on the regime and to review Burma's membership in the grouping.

Last Friday, about 2,000 Burmese protesters - many of them migrant workers in Malaysia - demonstrated outside the embassy amid a heavy police presence.

Malaysia is an important economic partner of resource-rich Burma.