KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 – Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin described DAP as insensitive for attempting to justify Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching’s visit to a surau last Sunday, which Umno said caused uneasiness among Malays.

PAS has sought to defend the first-term MP but she bit the bullet today by saying she will explain and apologise to the Selangor ruler for her actions.

“It shows that DAP is insensitive to other races and religions and the extreme naivety on Teo’s part,” the Rembau MP (picture) told reporters here.

He described Teo’s explanation today as an “afterthought” after coming under fire.

“We don’t want excuses or justification. The issue is about the sensitivity of other religions,” he said.

Earlier today Teo explained that she was invited into the surau to hand over allocations to upgrade the premises.

She blamed Umno and Utusan Malaysia for twisting the issue.

However Khairy denied this and said he was disappointed that the opposition was blaming Umno for politicising the issue.

He said the DAP must understand that the majority of Muslims in the country were upset by Teo’s conduct.

“PAS will try and justify the issue,” he said.

The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) yesterday announced that they will send a warning letter to Teo.

Mais chairman Datuk Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa also said they had taken over the management of the surau.

Khairy said MAIS’ actions were fair because they also punished the Al-Huda Surau committee which has been suspended.

Earlier Khairy also said he supported the statement by prime minister who said yesterday that the government has zero tolerance for racism.

“It’s both a brave and accurate statement because of the focus on 1 Malaysia,” he said.

He added that a new approach was need to tackle the problem because racism was subject to interpretation.

“What is racist is in the eye of the beholder,” he said.