PKR national youth deputy chief Dr Afif Bahardin has condemned the red-shirts protesters for their uncouth and racist behaviour during the rally in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Afif said the remarks by Umno leaders during the rally did not represent Malays or Muslims.

He was referring to Umno supreme council member Annuar Musa who allegedly said that being racist was in line with Islamic teachings.

“Islam prohibits racism and the principle of justice in Islam is very clear,” Afif said, when asked about the matter at a press conference in Komtar today.

Afif ( photo ) added as a Muslim, he felt that the protesters did not at all speak for the majority of Malays or Malaysians in the country, although 50,000 of them turned up on the streets yesterday, marring Malaysia Day.

“Malays have a sense of identity and integrity, we are polite and can live in harmony with all communities in the country, we can also compete with everyone. Remember, we had Malay-Muslim empires in the region in the past,” he explained.

Afif said some red-shirts protesters, who hurled racial slurs at the Chinese community, including non-Malay reporters on duty, were not defending the Malay race.

They were actually defending a corrupt government, added the Penang state executive councillor on health, agriculture and primary industries, and rural development.

He said those who tried to create chaos during the event, including scuffling with the police, showed their “utter hypocrisy” even as they were speaking of democracy and freedom.

“If they are really brave, they should be courageous like former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who oppose Premier Najib Abdul Razak,” Afif said.

The protest yesterday was to counter Bersih's rally on Aug 29 and 30, which among other demands, urged Najib to quit his post so that investigations into debt-ridden 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation in his private bank accounts can be facilitated.