PETALING JAYA – The “Malay Proclamation” rally – originally set for Sunday involving former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad – has been called off for now.

The Malay Proclamation secretariat said organisers were again unable to secure the venue.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the organisers said the hall management where the event was supposed to be held did not provide any reason for cancelling their 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,” they said.

“The organisers then were forced to find a new venue,” they added. “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,” 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 Anwar Ibrahim issued a stern warning against parties he said were using race and religion to promote strife, ahead of the rally. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK