Umno Youth today denied the claim by PKR that its members had threatened to torch the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya if the Bersih 2.0 rally went ahead.

The purpose of the movement's mass gathering in front of the opposition party's building last night was taken out of context, Umno Youth debate unit vice-chairperson Arman Azha Abu Hanifah said today.

He said Youth exco member Lokman Adam, who was also present, had never said that Umno would burn down the opposition party's headquarters.

NONE "What was meant was that if Bersih goes ahead (with the rally), the situation will go haywire and it will cause fighting to happen, and this building (PKR headquarters) will get burned.

"We don't know who will do it, but Umno is not that stupid to do such a thing," Arman ( left ) said when contacted today.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution had earlier said Lokman, a former PKR Youth stalwart, had said in a speech to the Umno Youth gathering in front of the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya late last night that they would burn down the PKR building.

Saifuddin said the speech had already started when he arrived at the scene around 11pm.

A police report was filed around 11.40pm by PKR Youth deputy information chief Rozen Azen Mat Rasip at the Tropicana police station, located in the same block as the PKR headquarters, immediately after the gathering dispersed.

Arman also denied that the Umno Youth members were there for more than 10 minutes, saying that the 800-strong crowd - and not 300 as claimed by Saifuddin - fully complied with the police.

He said the police did ask them to leave, but after negotiating they were allowed 10 minutes and then dispersed as requested by the authorities.

'This is freedom of assembly'

"We did not fight with the AMK (PKR Youth), there was no smashing, no burning of flags... that shows we are professional enough. I even went up to meet Rozan and we shook hands in front of AMK (members).

NONE "We went there to exercise our freedom of assembly; our freedom of speech. We walk the talk, but when we go in a professional manner, they say we are a mob. They have to accept the fact that this is what they want," he said.

Arman, who at one time was a youth wing member of the conservative Malay rights group Perkasa, explained that the sole purpose of the mass gathering was to ask that either the planned Bersih 2.0 rally be scrapped or moved to an enclosed area in Selangor.

"We are asking them to not hold the demonstration in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. Why not do it in Selangor or at the Shah Alam stadium? We don't want such events to destroy the country's economy.

"We requested for them to cancel or do it in a proper place, and if they do so, we will also hold our Patriot rally in a proper place, like Merdeka stadium," he said.

Umno Youth is one of three groups that have said they will march on July 9. Pro-electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 initially intended to hold a peaceful march to hand over a petition to Istana Negara detailing their eight demands before the next general election.

Perkasa has vowed to hold a counter-rally to stop the Bersih protesters, and Umno Youth later joined the fray with the wing's chief Khairy Jamaluddin saying they will organise a "Patriot" rally to defy Bersih 2.0 and support engagement with the Election Commission.

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