After spending the past week under Umno's cross hairs, DAP acting chairperson Tan Kok Wai said the party was unfazed.

Regardless of what Umno thinks of DAP, said Tan, the party can rest assured that the people have branded BN and Umno as Musuh Rakyat Nombor Satu (MR1, or Public Enemy Number One).

He claimed that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak can sense BN's impending defeat, and fears the incoming Pakatan Harapan government will build not only schools and hospitals, but also prisons to house corrupt BN leaders.

"Thus, Umno has launched a campaign of hate – a campaign of hate against DAP that plays up racial sentiments.

"But DAP is not worried, friends. DAP has been oppressed by BN since our founding 50 years ago. DAP is not worried because the people will not be fooled again by BN.

"It is only Najib and Umno that keeps jabbering about race, but the people know who is Malaysian Official One (MO1). However, one thing that Najib, Umno, and BN should know is that they have become MR1.

"What is MR1? Umno and BN has become Musuh Rakyat Nombor Satu," he said in his opening speech at the 50th DAP National Convention in Shah Alam today.

He warned Umno against victimising DAP for "narrow, uncouth, and cruel" political aims.

Recalling Nasir Safar

During the Umno General Assembly, Najib had portrayed DAP as an anti-Islam and an anti-Malay party - a theme that stuck to the end of the assembly yesterday.

"This is clearly a malicious slander and spin of the facts, because DAP's party constitution clearly states that one of DAP's goals is to 'confirm and restore the Federal Constitution to its original framework'," said Tan.

He said this was contrary to Najib's claims that DAP is against the special position of Malays and Islam's place as the religion of the federation, because the party’s constitution is supposedly silent on the matter.

Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng took issue with Najib's move to air videos featuring the controversial former DAP member Hew Kuan Yau to attack the party, although Hew is no longer a party member.

He asked whether this means Najib also shares the views of his former aide Nasir Safar’s statement in 2010 which insulted minorities.

"How can a prime minister stoop so low as to stoke racial sentiments by linking Hew Kuan Yew to DAP when Hew is no longer a DAP member?

"If we use the prime minister’s standards, then can we also not say that the prime minister shares the views of his former information officer Nasir Safar who in 2010 called Chinese women ‘prostitutes’ and Indians ‘beggars’?” he said.

Nasir's remarks at the time had sparked outrage, eventually resulting in his resignation.

Was Tunku a traitor too?

At a press conference after the officiating of the convention, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad also took the opportunity to respond to the attacks against him during the Umno general assembly.

He said the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman was also close to DAP leaders.

Unlike him however, Mahathir said he had been branded as a traitor to the Malays whereas Tunku was not.

"I have a picture showing him (Tunku) with (DAP parliamentary leader) Lim Kit Siang and (the late DAP chairperson) Karpal Singh.

"He was the prime minister, and I was once the prime minister too, but just because I stand by Kit Siang, it doesn’t mean I am a traitor to the Malays. If I am a traitor, then is Tunku a traitor too?" he queried.