Malay Proclamation rally off for now after venue gets cancelled for the second time

PETALING JAYA: The "Malay Proclamation" rally due to be held on Sunday (March 19) involving former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been called off for now.

This after its organisers failed to secure the venue for the second time, said the Malay Proclamation secretariat.

In a statement issued on Saturday (March 18), the organisers said that the hall management where the event was supposed to be held did not provide any reason for their cancellation of the venue booking.

"The programme involving statesman Dr 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.

"The organisers then were forced to find a new venue.

"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. We apologise to the invitees for having had to change the venue twice. We will make a statement on this very soon," said the secretariat.

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

On March 17, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim issued a stern warning against parties he said were using race and religion to promote strife, ahead of the rally.