By Shannon Teoh and Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani-The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 - Barisan Nasional Youth made a thinly-veiled threat tonight against Pakatan Rakyat that it would suffer the consequences for not respecting the monarchy.
At a pro-monarchy gathering tonight, its chairman Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said that “those who are willing to destroy or damage the royalty and betray the country will pay the price”.
“Who says Umno Youth has no spirit and is not brave? We will show them,” he said to cheers from a 5,000-strong crowd of predominantly Umno Youth members.
“What do we do to these traitors? We drive them out,” he added.
He warned that tonight was only a wave which will end up as a “tsunami” against those who are “willing to risk the honour of the nation and the institution of the monarchy”.
“Our independence and the freedom to choose our government was only gained with the support of the rulers yet certain individuals are willing to give this away,” he said.
BN Youth supporters had begun to gather from 8pm and most were clad in yellow t-shirts to listen to component party youth leaders as well as Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir whose government is the subject of a constitutional crisis which BN claims is due to PR’s willingness to commit treason against the Perak Sultan who had appointed Zambry as the new MB.
Shouts of “Daulat Tuanku (Long live the King)” were interspersed with abuse hurled at PR leaders such as de facto PKR chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and DAP chairman Karpal Singh, who had said that he would sue the Sultan for his role in the power grab by BN in Perak.
Hishammuddin also called DAP chairman Karpal Singh “rude” and Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin a “traitor”.
However, at a press conference after the gathering, he said that the event was to allow BN Youth to vent its frustrations “in a controlled environment”.
“They should not go out on the streets and incite hatred. It is not BN culture to demonstrate on the streets,” he said.
Hishammuddin had claimed during his speech that if things were allowed to continue this way, then Malays would suffer.
Earlier in the night however, youth leaders from MCA and MIC as well as from Sabah and Sarawak, gave their full support to the move to declare their loyalty to the Malay rulers.
Conspicuously, several said that “we are with you”, clearly denoting that this was an Umno-led campaign, as reflected by several slogans seen that night calling for the defence of Malay honour.
“We have accepted constitutional monarchy and from across the South China Sea, we are with you to say that the youth of Sarawak are loyal to this system,” PBB Youth chief Fadillah Yusof said.
MIC Youth deputy chief S. Murugesan echoed this sentiment, declaring that the wing was “with you to support the royalty and uphold the constitution”.
MCA Youth deputy secretary-general Loh Chew June however, called on PR to stop its conspiracy of making false accusations against BN.
“Stop your baseless allegations. What is true remains true and what is false remains false,” he said.
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