Far from condemning Umno Youth's fiery protest outside the DAP headquarters yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin described it as a "natural reaction".

However, the Umno deputy president stressed that rules must be followed.

"To me, what is important is that we have rules.

"Be it Umno Youth or whoever else, they must respect that and not breach the rules," he added.

Muhyiddin ( left ) said it was natural for members to respond with anger when their party image is tainted.

"This was just a spontaneous reaction, they felt called to defend the party's honour when someone calls the party 'celaka'," he added.

The protest was organised as a reaction to DAP's Seri Delima assemblyperson RSN Rayer calling some Umno members "celaka" in the Penang state assembly on Tuesday.

Rayer was at the time ticking off three Umno leaders for attending a rally against Machang Bubuk assemblyperson Lee Khai Loon in January, at which a banner blaming DAP for the May 13, 1969, racial riots was displayed.

'Rayer must have manners'

Asked if he thought it was all right for Umno Youth members to threaten to burn down a building, Muhyiddin refused to answer the question.

The deputy prime minister then went on to label Rayer as an "embarrassment to his own party" for his "celaka" remark.

"You can hate our party, but the criticism must have its manners," Muhyiddin said.

Meanwhile, MCA Youth today slammed Umno Youth for resorting to "forceful harassment, vulgarities , property destruction and threats of violence and arson" rather than civil discourse.

Later this afternoon, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang described Muhyiddin as a "patron of political hooliganism" for condoning Umno members who protested violently outside the DAP headquarters.

"I am shocked that we have a deputy prime minister who seem to be a patron of political hooliganism," Lim said.

He said Muhyiddin's statement appeared to mean that he condoned such outrageous behaviour.

"Understand the context and the situation. I agree that we should avoid insensitive and provocative language," Lim said when asked if DAP would order Rayer to apologise for his "celaka" remark.

Yesterday, Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow condemned the Umno Youth action of storming the state assembly on Wednesday as " unacceptable in our democratic society".

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