Majority of Malaysians still support BN: Najib

The majority of Malaysians still support the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday, as he downplayed the number of people at a nationwide anti-government protest that took place over the weekend.

“There might have been 20,000 people at the rally, as reported by some media, but I am sure only 20,000 are a little dissatisfied. The rest of the Malaysian population are with the government,” Mr Najib told reporters at an event in Kuala Terengganu, referring to the Bersih 4 rally that was organised by electoral reform group Bersih 2.0.

Based on reports, the Malaysian police estimated Saturday’s crowd at 25,000, but Bersih said the crowd swelled to 300,000 on Sunday, from 200,000 on Saturday.

“What is 20,000, we can gather hundreds of thousands. FELDA settlers alone could make the numbers,” said Mr Najib, referring to the Federal Land Development Authority, an agency that helps the rural poor plant cash crops.

Earlier yesterday, a division chief of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) promised that he would gather one million people to rally behind the Mr Najib.

“We have decided on Oct 10 for our rally. We will gather at Low Yat, Bukit Bintang and one million ‘Red Shirts’ will come down and show support for Najib,” Mr Jamal Md Yunos, the Sungai Besar UMNO division chief, told reporters.

“This will show that the Prime Minister, too, has many supporters,” he added. AGENCIES