The DAP has deplored the incident where two Bersih participants stomped on the photo of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang .

Party supremo Lim Kit Siang said the act is not the political or civic culture he wants to see in Malaysia.

The Gelang Patah MP said this is a stand he took since being in politics, which will reach 50 years on Dec 1.

“In my nearly 50 years in politics, I have never stepped on the photograph of any political leader,” Lim said at a press conference at the state DAP headquarters on Jalan Rangoon, Penang, today.

He denied knowing the identities of the duo when asked if he was certain they were not DAP members.

PAS, which did not attend Bersih’s mammoth rally on Aug 29 and 30, was outraged with the incident and lodged a police report on the matter.

Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah has distanced the rally from the acts of the duo, but declined to apologise for it, saying the incident was not part of the coalition’s programme.

The police is now looking to question the duo but DAP Seri Delima assemblyman RSN Rayer urged the authorities not to practise double standards and also probe those who did the same acts to opposition leaders.

Accused of causing May 13 racial riots

Lim recalled that DAP has been blamed for similar offences.

As an example, he cited a rally organised by Penang Umno in January last year in Seberang Jaya, which he described as “gangsterish and most racist” against the DAP.

The rally which carried banners such as 'Does DAP want another May 13?' was in response to PKR Machang Bubok assemblyman Lee Khai Loon’s flash mob where participants fed an effigy of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak with kangkung.

Lim ( photo ) also recalled that he has often been the victim of racist lies where he was accused of causing the May 13 racial riots.

He said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, his son and himself, were also accused of stepping on photographs of former Perak Pakatan Rakyat assembly members whose defection caused the collapse of the state government in 2009.

He added that there were a long list of cases where Pakatan and civil society leaders like PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, Guan Eng, the late Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat and former Bersih co-chair Ambiga Sreenivasan had been publicly insulted and humiliated.

“But these acts were met with no government interest or action including no instances of official sanction or condemnation,” Lim said.

He urged Malaysians of all races and religion to step forward to expose and isolate the “dangerous extremists” who want to inflame and incite racial and religious hatred, tensions and conflict for their short-term opportunistic objectives.

“The overwhelming majority of moderates in Malaysia cannot remain silent but must act immediately so as not to allow a tiny handful of extremists to destroy Malaysia,” Lim added.