The order to freeze leave was issued by police official Zaleha Abd Rahman on Friday, the New Straits Times reported. It quoted unnamed sources as saying the freeze was imposed after an unnamed political party threatened to call for mass street protests.

The police will close roads leading to Parliament House tomorrow, in anticipation of demonstrations to accompany the possible debate of a no-confidence motion filed by the opposition against Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

Opposition leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail filed the motion on Friday, but it is up to the House Speaker to decide if he will accept it.

Only parliament workers and those involved in Parliament sittings will be allowed into the building.

The security precautions come as the government battles to quell growing discontent among the public and opposition, following a series of political scandals and a steep rise in fuel prices.

Opposition party Parti Islam seMalaysia (PAS) said the party could call for street protests, depending on the government's response to public anger over the price hikes.

'There's always a plan but we haven't come to a decision on the date and place,' PAS treasurer Mohd Hatta said when asked if anything was planned.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's Parti Keadilan Rakvat said it had no plans for street rallies, but it would continue with roadshows across the country to tell the public about its plans to form a new government.

Pre-empting possible rallies, the police are planning to deploy officers to places where protests might be held around the city, such as the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and the National Mosque.

City police chief Muhammad Sabtu Osman said the police had yet to receive any application for a permit to hold a rally.

Yesterday, thousands of people turned up in a show of support for the government at a gathering of non-governmental organisations in Putrajaya.

Organised to demonstrate support for the embattled Prime Minister, it saw Datuk Seri Abdullah expressing confidence that Barisan Nasional (BN) would win big again at the next general election.

Acknowledging the coalition's poor showing in the March elections this year, he said BN could learn from it and repeat its good performance in 2004.

'Don't poison our minds with ideas that kill initiatives and make us lose confidence in ourselves; think that we can do it and we will succeed,' he said.

Reuters, The Star/Asia News Network, Bernama