The Bersih convoy from Alor Setar, Kedah was briefly halted by a group of men wearing red T-shirts emblazoned with the Umno party logo as the procession of cars were about to leave for Sungai Petani yesterday.

The men arrived on motorbikes when the Bersih convoy of about 50 cars were leaving Jalan Bahiyah, where they had gathered at about 9am.

“The group blocked our cars and stopped us from leaving… they kept shouting at us,” PKR Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung told Malaysiakini.

“The police came and made a way for us to leave the site; the group was mostly shouting at me because mine was the car right in front, leading the convoy,” he added.

“They hurled racial abuses like asking the Malays not to be “balaci Cina”,” Gooi said, adding that the remarks were caught in a video.

According to Gooi, the group of red-shirt men were led by state Umno Youth chief Syed Hafiz Syed Mustapha.

In the video obtained by Malaysiakini, a red-shirt member in black helmet and dark glasses believed to be Syed Hafiz, was seen shouting at the parliamentarian, saying, “Come and do your work in Alor Setar, not Bersih.”

“The youths in Bersih, come meet us first, don’t provoke or disturb Alor Setar. This is our area,” he added.

The Bersih convoy managed to leave the area unharmed as police blocked the red shirts from following them. Gooi subsequently thanked the police for protecting the Bersih team.

Bersih leaders present at the convoy were Maria Chin Abdullah, Hishamuddin Rais, and Northern region Bersih coordinator Toh Kin Woon. Also present were former Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir and PAS Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar.

Spotting a yellow T-shirt and white cap, Mukhriz said to loud claps and cheers that he was not at the Bersih rally to “makan dedak” (eat animal feed, a term used by his father, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamed, to describe bribe taking).

He also dismissed the accusation that Bersih was monopolised by the Chinese.

“They said the ones who support Bersih and a clean government was from one race only, and they are not Malay-Muslims. I am here to show that Malay-Muslims in Kedah also want a clean government,” Mukhriz said.

" If there are other groups here … they can protest against what we are doing, but these are the ones who have taken all kinds of 'dedak'," Mukhriz said.

The Bersih ‘torch’ will arrive in Kulim, Kedah at about 4.30pm tomorrow and will proceed to Penang island on Sunday, before heading south to Perak.

Polls reform movement Bersih will hold a mega-rally in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 19 in an effort to press its demands, among others, for Prime Minister Najib Razak to step down over the 1MDB scandal and the RM2.6 billion ‘donation’ from an Arab royalty, which was deposited into his private bank accounts before the 13th national polls in 2013.