By Shannon Teoh and Clara Chooi The Malaysian Insider June 28, 2011
PETALING JAYA, June 28 — Hundreds of Umno Youth members on motorcycles circled the PKR headquarters here late last night in a threatening manner ahead of the July 9 Bersih rally, ostensibly to protest a death threat against their leader Khairy Jamaluddin.
They arrived at the office block in Tropicana, just a few doors away from the Tropicana police station, claiming that a death threat sent to Khairy recently came from the opposition party, which denied the allegation.
The group of Umno Youth members protesting outside the PKR headquarters last night.
Executive committee member Lokman Noor Adam claimed he led 600 Umno Youth members at 10.30 last night, blocking the street in front of the PKR headquarters as they chanted loudly in the night.
He said the gathering of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Umno Youth members was to “send a clear message to PKR that we are not afraid and we are ready to meet them even earlier.”
The Umno Youth chief, who is currently overseas, had said he received the threat via text message on Sunday warning him to call off a counter rally against the Bersih march for electoral reform.
PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution told The Malaysian Insider that 300 Umno Youth members, mostly on motorcycles, had travelled from as far as Shah Alam but were not stopped by police despite waving Umno flags.
“They gave a speech outside, threatening that if the Bersih rally proceeds, they will harm Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” he said, referring to the Bersih chief and PKR de facto leader respectively.
“They also threatened to burn down our HQ,” the Machang MP said, adding that he had lodged a police report at the police station a few doors down.
However, Lokman told The Malaysian Insider that Umno Youth did not threaten PKR with violence.
“We gave strict orders not to touch their headquarters. We are not like them,” he said.
PAS has promised to bring in hundreds of thousands of supporters from across the country as Pakatan Rakyat (PR) gears up for a second such rally in recent years.
The first Bersih rally in 2007 saw up to 50,000 people take to the streets of Kuala Lumpur before they were dispersed by police armed with tear gas and water cannons.
The demonstration has been partly credited for Pakatan Rakyat’s record gains in Election 2008, where the opposition pact swept to power in five states and won 82 parliamentary seats.
However, counter rallies are being planned by both Perkasa and Umno Youth who have pledged to march despite the government insisting it will not issue any permits for gatherings in the city on July 9.