Protesters who had stormed into the Penang State Assembly yesterday drew flak from DAP leaders, who call it an attack on democracy.

Puchong MP Gobind Singh had condemned the mob who, after making their way into the State Assembly hall, had threatened the DAP rep who had allegedly insulted UMNO.

“These are the actions of people who do not respect the democratic process which operates on the strength of intellectual discourse by way of debate in the dewan itself and not the use of external force on the dewan to get their way.”

Gobind Singh said today that if there was a misconduct by any elected representative, complaints could have been made instead.

“..and if it is found that he has abused his privileges as a representative, then the dewan has the right to act against him. But to resort to mob rule is something which is simply disgraceful and unacceptable,” he added.

“As Member of Parliament, I urge the police to act against this group of persons without delay. This country can ill afford to find itself seen internationally as a nation in which there is no respect for the rule of law,” reminding also that it was not the first occurrence of such an act. In february 2009, a group comprising of UMNO Youth members confronted the late YB Karpal Singh in Parliament. The incident had nearly provoked a fist fight between MP’s present and the group, he said.

Raub MP Ariff Sabri had also blasted the aggressive protesters, saying that the UMNO group had  acted as if this was a  “cowboy state”.

“If it were PAS, PKR or DAP who had done the same thing, what would UMNO have done?,” he asked.

The enraged supporters from UMNO had barged into the premises to express their dissatisfaction of a DAP rep’s alleged “UMNO celaka” comment on the Seberang Jaya protesters, who in January held a demonstration against the “kangkung flashmob”  by Machang Bubuk Assemblyman Lee Khai Loon. During the rally,  the pro-UMNO mob had shown off threatening banners asking DAP if it wanted another 13 May. -The Rocket

In videos circulating online that had captured yesterdays incident, the protesters were seen shouting ” jangan hina Melayu!” (dont insult the Malays!), while challenging the DAP assemblyman to be brave enough to face them. However, Seri Delima assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer, who was the DAP rep in question, was not present at the meeting. -The Rocket