“For City Hall, the (digital display on the) building is still on trial. It’s not completed. So I asked them to try (with the Umno logo),” the Federal Territories minister and Umno secretary-general said.
He accused opposition MPs who objected to the logo being placed on the government building of being angry with everything he did.
He said Umno generally paid for advertisements it placed in public spaces like malls and billboards.
“Why are they (opposition) angry? (It is) not only at City Hall building. The logo is also at the Pavillion (shopping mall), Old Klang Road and Segambut.
“We are charged and we pay. What’s the problem? They are jealous,” he said
“When they do certain things, that is ok,” he said, adding that certain “pictures” have been mounted at roundabouts in Selangor which is under federal opposition parties.
He told reporters this after meeting Putrajaya surau members at the ministry’s office here.
The logo, which includes the Umno emblem, was screened on a digital display that covered the entire façade of the DBKL headquarters at Jalan Raja Laut.
It also highlighted details of Umno’s commemorative gathering at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium which was attended by the party’s top brass, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, last night.
Tengku Adnan also defended the presence of university students asked to attend the celebration, saying it was not a political rally.
He said students were allowed to attend such functions under the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971.
“There is a lot of spinning on the issue. Some students wanted to attend the celebrations. So we invited them. Some of them from UniKL, UiTM, and from other universities too,” he said.
“There came in as NGOs. We never forced anyone to join in. They did not expect the overwhelming crowd. They perhaps did not realise Umno has 3.5 million members,” he added.
Yesterday, PKR Youth deputy chief Dr Afif Bahardin cited a WhatsApp message sent to him by a concerned parent about a circular issued by UiTM, Shah Alam, directing its students to attend the event.
Afif had said that if the circular was indeed genuine, UiTM must explain why the students were being “forced to go” when it should be voluntary and the event might be political in nature.
PKR’s Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah, a practising lawyer, previously said the Court of Appeal had ruled against a law banning college students from political activities under the act.
Umno anniversary: UiTM students claim told to make bash livelier