Umno grassroots leaders are irked by the insinuation that their party and BN are responsible for spreading intimate photos that purportedly show Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari and DAP Youth’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.

This morning, the group Gerakan Akar Umbi Umno (Gaum) lodged a police report at the Brickfields district police headquarters, urging authorities to get to the bottom of the matter and help clear Umno's and BN’s names.

“There are allegations amongst DAP members that the pictures are supposedly done by Umno and BN machinery and members to smear Zairil’s and Dyana’s name, although there is no proof to back those claims.

“The purpose of this report is to urge the police together with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to investigate those who disseminated the photo and clear the name of Umno’s and BN’s machinery and members,” said Gaum chairperson Zulkarnain in his police report.

The photo allegedly depicting Zairil and Dyana had been spreading through various social media and instant messaging channels.

Zairil had denied that he is the person in the photo. Dyana did not confirm nor deny whether she is the person in the photo, and instead said that it is sad that Malaysia’s political culture has resorted to major intrusions of privacy of the persons in the photo.

Nevertheless, there had been talk within DAP circles that the episode had cause embarrassment to the party, and this may affect the duo’s candidacy in the next general election.

Dyana had previously contested on the DAP ticket during the Teluk Intan by-election in 2014.