Malay group plans mass rally

Malay group plans mass rally

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Insisting that it does not want to worsen racial tensions, a Malay Muslim organization on Thursday said it will hold a mass rally to debate progress achieved by Malaysia's largest ethnic group over the past 40 years.

Some leaders of the newly formed Malay Action Organization predict that at least 10,000 ethnic Malays will attend a widely publicized rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, located at the epicenter of race riots between Malays and ethnic Chinese that killed hundreds of people in 1969.

"We want to talk about issues facing the Malays," said Ibrahim Ali, chief coordinator of the organization. "The situation is now in chaos. We must rectify that."

The Malay establishment, embodied by the ruling United Malays National Organization, claims that Malays, who are the largest group in this nation of 22 million people, have been weakened because many turned to opposition parties in elections in 1999.