Umno has never supported street rallies, including the Sept 16 red shirts gathering, party secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said today.

“We will never support street demonstrations,” the federal territories minister, who is known as Ku Nan, stressed during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Tengku Adnan said this when asked whether Umno would back the gathering planned by Malaysian NGO coalition chairperson Jamal Md Yunos in Kajang.

Jamal is also the Sungai Besar Umno division chief.

As for the Umno leaders who were present at the red shirts rally, Tengku Adnan said they represented NGOs.

“Some of the Umno leaders who were there represented NGOs, like (former Malacca chief minister) Mohd Ali Rustam. I too represent numerous NGOs,” he added.

Ali Rustam is chairperson of the national silat federation (Pesaka), which organised the Sept 16 rally that witnessed provocative banners and insults hurled at the Chinese.

Dubbed ‘Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu’, the rally was held to defend Malay pride in the wake of Bersih 4, where Chinese participants stomped on the images of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

The Sept 16 rally also strained ties between MCA and Umno after Najib expressed support for the rally, prompting an MCA Youth division in Johor to announce it would cut ties with the prime minister.

[More to follow]