Umno should urge at-large Sungai Besar Umno chief Jamal Md Yunos to turn himself in to the authorities, says Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.

By doing so, she said, Umno would be showing its professionalism and respect for the new government.

"I am surprised that Jamal is on the run, as I thought he was the hero of the kampung!" she joked when asked about Jamal's announcement that he would contest as Umno Youth chief.

"I don't understand what Umno is doing now. In the first place, the party has to come clean, the president must make the call for Jamal to come back to do the correct thing,” she said.

"Since the new government has been formed, it is high time Umno respects the new government and shows its professionalism.

"As the former government, I am sure they have certain level of professionalism and mentality," she added.

Zuraida also called upon former Umno president Najib Abdul Razak to urge Jamal to surrender.

"If he is clean, he has nothing to be worried about.

"I hope Najib (and acting president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) can do that, for the sake of Umno’s survival," she said. 

Zuraida filed a defamation suit against Jamal in November 2016 over a scuffle that left Jamal with a bloody nose in Ampang. 

On May 30, Jamal was charged under Section 290 of the Penal Code for public nuisance over a protest he staged outside the Selangor state secretariat building in Shah Alam last year.

Jamal was also being investigated under Section 34 of the Arms Act 1960 for carrying a firearm while in a drunk or disorderly state.

However, he went missing before the bail process could be completed.

He later resurfaced but denied fleeing from police custody – claiming that he had only gone to the Tabung Haji building to withdraw money for his bail.

On May 29, Jamal promised to surrender at the Ampang Jaya district police headquarters the following day.

He did not show up, however, and instead appeared in a video that was taken at an undisclosed oil palm plantation.

In the clip, Jamal said he feared for his safety and accused the government of victimising him.

Meanwhile, Zuraida said the ministry will instruct the relevant authorities and government bodies to start the "cleaning up" of the people's housing project (PPR) by preventing the landlord from renting their units to foreigners.

Certain action can be done immediately as the existing law barred the PPR unit from being rented to the foreigner, she added.