AVOID CHAOS, SAYS PM; DPM URGES BERSIH AND RED SHIRTS TO CALL OFF RALLIES TOMORROW

‘RESPECT THE LAW’: Refrain from physical clashes, PM tells the people

PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the people must respect the rule of law and that any planned protests this weekend should avoid causing any trouble and chaos.

He also said people who want to defend the government could be compelled to stage a counter rally, but both sides must avoid physical clashes.

“If one side wants to protest, the side that wants to defend the government is compelled to come out,” he told Malaysian reporters here.

“I don’t want any physical clashes and they have to act according to the law and abide by whatever instructions the police give,” he said at the end of his working visit to Japan.

“Obviously, I cannot guarantee anything, but my position has always been (that) you must respect the rule of law, and you cannot cause trouble and chaos, and you cannot indulge in any kind of physical clashes at all.

“That’s not going to be good for us and that is not a culture that we will want to be accepted as our way of life in Malaysia.”

Bersih 2.0 (also known as the Yellow Shirts) has called for an antigovernment protest this Saturday, with demonstrators planning to congregate at different points of Kuala Lumpur before converging at Dataran Merdeka.

The Red Shirts have also planned a counter rally on the same day and have warned that they would gather at Dataran Merdeka as well.

Najib said any action to choose the government other than through elections would be unconstitutional and would only lead to chaos.

“We have seen this happening in many countries, even the so-called Arab Spring was heralded as an era of change, but instead, it brought misery to the people in the countries concerned.

“One must accept the fact we have to act in accordance to the rule of law and the best time is to decide when the time comes.

“There will be elections. People can make their choice there. And we will abide by the decision of the rakyat.”