UMNO Youth Selangor has dismissed as “irrelevant” the allegations that Barisan Nasional candidate Azhari Shaari had trampled on the head of a cow during a protest against a Hindu temple a decade ago, saying there were “more important issues”, such as the welfare of Indians, in the state.

Its Youth chief Zainuri Zainal downplayed the picture, which is being spread on social media, saying it was a desperate move by the Selangor government to incite hatred towards Azhari, who is running for the Shah Alam parliamentary constituency.

The picture of the group kicking a cow’s head was taken during a protest in front of the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah building in Shah Alam 10 years ago.

The group had demanded that a Hindu temple be relocated to another area in Shah Alam. The cow is deemed a sacred animal by Hindus.

“What is more important now, what is bigger? That issue (cow head) or that the Selangor government has not fulfilled its promises to the Indian community?” Zainuri told Malaysia Decides.

“That is more important now. They (Pakatan Harapan) want to cover up their failure to provide services to the Indian community. They are covering up their failure with issues that are irrelevant in this day.”

Azhari was fined RM1,000 by the Shah Alam Sessions Court for the protest along with another 11 men. Two men in the group were also charged with sedition and fined another RM3,000, with one of the two also ordered to serve one week in jail.

Zainuri dismissed the incident as a thing of the past, and accused PH of now trying to win “sympathy votes”.

“I think this issue does not need to be raised, and why raise it now? This issue is one way for Pakatan to try and win sympathy votes and to denounce the BN candidate, and specifically to attract Indian voters in Shah Alam.

“The incident has passed, and we have already lost the last elections, and we accept the fact,” he said.

Incumbent Khalid Samad, who won the seat in 2013 as a PAS candidate, will be defending the seat as an Amanah candidate. The Shah Alam constituency is made up of 107,316 voters, out of whom 13% are Indians. – May 1, 2018.