It was a slap in the face. A big one.

Indeed, how else can you describe it when the party leader unequivocally appealed to delegates not to the hurt the feelings of other races at the now infamous Malay-only Umno assembly but no one heeded his impassioned plea?

And thus Malaysians saw an ugly display of racism courtesy of satellite TV operator Astro. So much so that the party president himself had to smooth over frayed nerves on the final day of the assembly.