Joy After Malaysia Refuses UN Racial Equality Pledge

Thousands of Malays rallied in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday to celebrate the Malaysian government’s refusal to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination.

After weeks of pressure by proMalay groups, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s multi-ethnic government decided last month that it would not ratify the convention, without giving a reason why it was going back on an earlier commitment to sign. Groups representing Malays, who account for around 60 per cent of Malaysia’s multi-ethnic population, raised fears that signing the UN pledge could have undermined Malay privileges and threatened Islam’s status as Malaysia’s official religion.

Badly beaten in an election earlier this year, Malay opposition parties seized on the issue, along with activists, to organise the rally, as race is a sensitive matter for the southeast Asian nation of 32 million people.

Seeking to rebuild support, Najib Razak, Malaysia’s scandal-plagued former prime minister, and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who replaced him as head of the former ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and the leader of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, PAS, all attended the rally. Their supporters, wearing white, converged on the capital’s Merdeka Square following afternoon prayers. Some chanted “God is Great” and slogans against the UN convention, while holding up placards calling for the defence of Malay rights and dignity.

Citing Police estimates, media put the size of the rally at around 50,000 people.