The Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau has issued an apology, following an uproar over a cartoon depicting PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia as monkeys.

"Our newspaper on April 8 published a comic on Act 355 that is disrespectful to Pandikar and Hadi. Nanyang sincerely apologises to both of them.

"Nanyang website has since retracted the comic," a statement posted on their website read.

The apology came after PAS Youth threatened a series of protests against Nanyang tomorrow.

Titled "Monkey Act", the cartoon published in Nanyang featured one of the monkeys sporting a songkok and labelled as “speaker” while the other wearing a turban called “Hadi Awang” was sitting on an “Act 355” tree, clutching a wand in its left hand.

It also showed “Hadi Awang” serving what appeared to be a “hot potato”, while the “speaker” jumped from the tree, saying, "Save it for later."

The cartoon also showed a group of monkeys arguing under the tree.

It was taken down from the e-version of the newspaper around 6pm today.

The cartoon was published in the newspaper two days after Hadi read out his motion to propose a private member's bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355) on Thursday.

After speeches from Hadi and PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan, Pandikar had ruled that the debate on the motion would be deferred to the next Dewan Rakyat meeting in July.

Selangor PAS Youth has called for a protest outside the daily's office in Petaling Jaya tomorrow morning.

"Selangor PAS Youth is mobilising all youths, and urges Muslims to rise to defend the dignity of Muslims," it said, adding that it would be submitting a memorandum demanding an apology.

Meanwhile, PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan called the cartoon "rude and excessive".

"Nanyang Siang Pau must retract the comic and apologise to Muslims, especially PAS," he said.

He also said that the party was considering legal action against the Chinese daily, which is owned by Sarawakian timber tycoon Tiong Hew King.

In Kelantan, the state PAS Youth has said that they will stage a protest at the Kota Baru royal jetty tomorrow, by burning copies of Nanyang, and dumping it into the ocean.