‘Don’t waste your money, call off rally, give thanks in a mosque’

PUTRAJAYA: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has some advice for those behind the plan to demonstrate on Dec 8 – “save your money, cancel your rally”.

The Home Minister said rallies were “expensive” and the organisers were better off if they just called it off.

“You have to come up with money to print T-shirts and more, why not just save the money so you can spend it on other things,” he said at a press conference here.

The rally was first planned to pressure the government into rejecting the ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

Later, the Cabinet announced that Malaysia would not ratify the UN convention.

Muhyiddin questioned the motive of the organisers and urged them to move on and respect the Cabinet’s decision.

“The decision is final and you must respect it,” he said.

“What is the point of having the rally when the original intention was to protest the ratification of ICERD?”

The rally organisers had said that the gathering would go on – only to celebrate the government’s decision to reject ICERD.

“If you want to express syukur (gratitude), don’t do it in a rally. Do it in a mosque.

“Have a thanksgiving ceremony, pray for the country’s peace. Say Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), there won’t be any ratification of ICERD,” said Muhyiddin.

The minister said if the organisers remained stubborn and insisted on going ahead with the rally, they would have to comply with the provisions of the Peaceful Assembly Act.

“If they comply, we will approve it,” he said. “But it is better if they don’t have the rally at all.”

If you want to express syukur (gratitude), don’t do it in a rally. Do it in a mosque ... Say Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), there won’t be any ratification of ICERD.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin