KUALA LUMPUR - Umno Youth plans to march to the United States embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to protest against the remarks by comedian Jocelyn Chia, who was born in the US and raised in Singapore.
“This is an insult that cannot be accepted by Umno Youth and Malaysians. As such, I have directed an Umno Youth exco member to lodge a police report against her later today,” Umno Youth chief Muhamad Akmal Saleh said when addressing delegates at the youth wing’s meeting on Thursday.
“We call on the government to ban her from stepping foot in Malaysia.”
Dr Akmal also called on Umno Youth delegates to march and gather in front of the US embassy at 2.30pm on Friday.
He said that the movement will submit a protest letter to the embassy.
Earlier, the march was planned to head to the Singapore High Commission but has since changed it to the US embassy.
Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi said the police and broadcast communications regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), will conduct any investigation deemed fit into Ms Chia’s disparaging remarks about Malaysia.
“We will leave it to the MCMC and the police to investigate before handing the matter over to the Attorney-General’s Chamber for the next step,” he said.
Ms Chia, who is no longer Singaporean, had joked about the Malaysia Airlines MH370 tragedy during a recent stand-up comedy show in the United States that poked fun at the rivalry between Singapore and Malaysia.
The aircraft left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing in March 2014 but never arrived. To date, it has not been located.
In an 89-second video clip of her set posted on Instagram, the American said: “Now, Malaysia, you all are trying to come around, like, ‘Hey Singapore, you’re looking good lah’. And we’re like, ‘I know, but why haven’t you visited me in 40 years?’
“And (Malaysia’s) like, ‘Yeah I tried, but you know, my airplanes cannot fly,” she said to laughter and audible gasps from the crowd.
She added: “Why, Malaysia Airlines going missing not funny huh? Some jokes don’t land.”
The clip of her set drew the ire of many Malaysians shortly after it was posted.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and the Republic’s High Commissioner to Malaysia Vanu Gopala Menon have since apologised over the incident. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Correction note: An earlier version of this story said Jocelyn Chia was born in Singapore. This is incorrect. She was born in the US.
