Verbal fireworks exploded in the Dewan Rakyat as Barisan Nasional backbenchers led a barrage of protests over the burning of the national flag during a riot in Pantai Batu Buruk in Kuala Terengganu on Saturday night.

Raja Ahmad Zainuddin (BN-Larut) raised the issue when debating the Supplementary Bill.

"We have not even finished our Independence celebrations and our country has already been tarnished by the incident of flag burning," he said.

Bung Mokhtar Raden (BN-Kinabatangan) chipped in to say: "Another Wee Meng Chee had been spawned. We must take action against this person. They are both traitors. If you burn the flag you are burning the country."

Mohd Said Yusof (BN-Jasin) wanted the nationality of all such perpetrators to be revoked, saying the country would not lose anything if they are "kicked out".

Ahmad nodded in agreement, describing the act of burning the flag as "a big sin, regardless of who does it".

"There will be no compromise on this. Investigations will be thorough all the way to the grassroots. Was there an actor behind this incident? Expose this person regardless of the race," he went on to say.

Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) supported the call for severe punishment to be meted out, even to the extent of detaining them under the Internal Security Act.

PAS gets flak

However, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) defended Wee, telling BN Mps that the Taiwan-based student has waved the national flag when he won a sports event.

Lim said that this showed Wee respects the flag and the country, and he chided the backbenchers for associating Wee with the flag-burning issue in Kuala Terengganu.

But Mohamed shouted: "This is not a race-based issue! He insulted the nation!"

This led to shouts being traded across the floor.

Mohamed later said that no government would tolerate the national flag being burnt as this is tantamount to an extreme insult.

Those who do so "do not deserve to be in this country and should be sent to hell", he said.

He then accused PAS for Saturday's violence, sparking a spirited outburst from the party's representatives in the House.

Although they demanded that he retracts his "malicious accusations", Mohamed refused to do so.

Salahuddin Ayub (BN-Kubang Kerian) then defended his party, saying that PAS displays the national flag every time it holds its muktamar (general assembly) and that it was unfair of Mohamed to hurl accusations.

Other PAS MPs questioned the motive of raising the issue of flag-burning, claiming that their BN counterparts were trying to divert attention from the use of firearms by police in dispersing the crowd in Pantai Batu Buruk.

Deputy speaker Dr Yusof Yacob then called for calm and for the debate to resume.