PETALING JAYA – The “Malay Proclamation” rally – originally set for Sunday and involving Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad – has been called off for now.

The Malay Proclamation secretariat said the organisers were again unable to secure the venue.

In a statement on Saturday, the organisers said the management of the hall where the event was supposed to be held did not give any reason for cancelling their venue booking. The first venue booked was a hotel near the Petronas Twin Towers, and that was cancelled.

“The programme involving statesman Mahathir, which is due to be held tomorrow, faced difficulties when the first venue of the event, which was booked earlier, was cancelled due to technical issues,” they said. “The organisers then were forced to find a new venue,” they added.

“However, the booking of the second venue, too, was cancelled, and the management of the hall informed us of this at 9am – 24 hours before the event was due to begin.”

“No reasons were given for the cancellation,” said the secretariat.

The Malay Proclamation rally was supposed to have been a gathering of Malay groups on issues of Malay rights.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday issued a warning against parties that he said were using race and religion to promote strife, ahead of the rally.

Datuk Seri Anwar, in his address at a special national congress of his Parti Keadilan Rakyat on Saturday, lambasted and threatened “his foes” whom he said were attempting to create racial disunity as well as destabilise the government.

He chided those who were bringing together “Tuns, Tan Sris and big towkays to create trouble using racial sentiments and asking the Malays to hate other races saying they (the Malays) were losing power”.

“‘Patriotism’, racism and religious bigotry combined are the last refuge of the scoundrel,” said Mr Anwar.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK