Cheras Umno division leader Syed Ali Alhabshee has come to the defence of Umno Youth for holding a demonstration at the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

Syed Ali said Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming ought to be ‘taught’ a lesson so that he will not make the same mistake again.

“Federal Territories Umno Youth has risen to the occasion; this is a reminder to non-Malays especially the DAP to respect the feelings of Muslims and the Malays,” he said in a blog post today.

“This is the result of provocation done by DAP leaders; they purposely fanned the anger of Muslims by ridiculing the act of giving during Hari Raya celebrations.”

As Nga had provoked Muslims in the country, Syed Ali said it was Federal Territories Umno Youth's responsibility to denounce such action.

He added that Nga should have been more sensitive to the sensitivities of the Malays, especially since he is a people’s representative.

Apart from insulting the Malays and Muslims, Syed Ali said it was as though Nga wanted to create racial tensions in the country.

“DAP is purposely adding heat to issues involving religion and the Malay customs; such an act cannot be simply forgiven.

“We don’t want the unity among the races to be destroyed by racist political sentiments played by DAP.”

He added that Umno leaders always respected the position of the non-Malays in the country as they held on to the concepts enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

“We (Umno) never insult them; in fact, we respect their rights and freedom to religion,” he said.

The protest on Tuesday was over Nga who was accused of insulting Islam with his Facebook postings.

A Hari Raya greeting with the American flag was posted on Nga's Facebook fanpage which the MP said was unauthorised while another post of a cartoon was purportedly posted on the same page.

However, the latter cannot be established as the page has since been deactivated.

The cartoon shows two boys in baju melayu and songkok telling a man, also in the traditional attire, that this year they are not expecting 'duit raya' but donations and 'dedak'.

'Dedak', the Malay word for animal feed, is commonly used in political circles to refer to political handouts used to win supporters and allies.

Nga, however, denied that he had drawn nor uploaded the post and even lodged a police report over the matter, claiming that he was a victim of a smear campaign.