Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor should not defend deputy minister Tajuddin Abdul Rahman for his statement that the Chinese should be slapped ( lempang ) for turning to China over their grouses.

MCA publicity bureau chief Chai Kim Sen said today this in response to Tengku Adnan saying yesterday that Tajuddin need not apologise as it was provoked by the misleading social media.

"I cannot agree with the explanation offered by Tengku Adnan, who urged MCA to cease all criticism against Tajuddin and view the issue rationally, in addition to asserting that no apology is due.

"It was Tajuddin who remained arrogant and later feigned ignorance of his threat, then claimed it was uttered as a joke.

"It was Tajuddin who irrationally courted outrage. Hence, there is no necessity for Tengku Adnan to come to the Pasir Salak MP’s defence," Chai ( photo ) said in a statement.

He added that Umno members who make racist comments would ultimately hurt the ruling coalition.

"Umno must realise that racist sputtering by its members will reflect poorly on the BN coalition as a whole.

"MCA reiterates our position that political parties and politicians must immediately stop stirring up racial issues.

"Otherwise, the situation in the country will deteriorate due to racism getting entangled constantly," he said.

Tajuddin made the disparaging comment on Thursday in response to Chinese ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang's visit to Petaling Street ahead of the planned red shirts protest there led by Umno leaders.

Huang's walkabout on Sept 25 raised eyebrows after he said China was against extremism and racism against any particular race on the eve of the racially-charged rally, which was subsequently aborted.

Following national uproar from the "slap" comment, Tajuddin has in a period of under 24 hours juggled varying explanations ranging from outright denial to being misquoted or that he was joking.