'Umno can't stop members from joining red-shirt rally'

Umno does not have the right to stop party members from attending the red-shirt rally on Saturday, said party information chief Annuar Musa.

He said party members who joined the rally could do so in their personal capacity, adding that all citizens have a right to express themselves in a lawful manner.

Annuar, who is also Ketereh MP, advised participating Umno members to be law-abiding citizens.

"How can we stop people from doing what they want to do?... Why should we take action against members (for participating)? We can't. Does DAP take action (against members)?

"You must differentiate between a person and the organisation. At the party level, we are not making any decision, but we are not stopping any member if they want to go.

"Be law-abiding citizens. Umno will not support anyone who goes against the law," said Annuar when met by reporters in Parliament today.

Sungai Besar Umno division head Jamal Md Yunos said he and his red-shirts would gather 300,000 people on Saturday in Kuala Lumpur.

They are holding a counter-rally against the Bersih 5 demonstration, which will be held on the same day and seeks Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's resignation over the 1MDB scandal.

Annuar also warned Umno members that they must be responsible for their actions should they break any law this Saturday.

“If even the police can't stop them (from demonstrating), you expect the information chief to be able to do so?

“They have the space to demonstrate, but we want to remind them that if they break the law, they need to be responsible."

Asked on Dr Mahathir Mohamad's call for the public to join Bersih 5, Annuar said the former prime minister should be forgiven for this.

“It is better to forgive him. He's 90 years old, what would you expect? It's fine, we will compromise with him,” he said.- Mkini