REAL SITUATION IN MALAYSIA SHOULD BE CLARIFIED - MINISTER

KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 (Bernama) -- The real situation in Malaysia should be clarified especially to the international community following Saturday's illegal street demonstrations here, said United Malays National Organisation (Umno) vice-president Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also Defence Minister, said reports about the
demonstrations, especially by the foreign media, implied instability in the country and had created a negative perception about Malaysia, despite the fact that peace and harmony still existed and that most Malaysians rejected street demonstrations.

"To fix this, I think a clarification on the real situation in Malaysia must be given to the international media because the real situation was not as what they had reported.

"They (demonstration's organisers) are not really fighting for clean and fair elections.

"They just want to tarnish the image of the country and deny what had been done by Prime Minister (Najib Razak) in transforming the country in all aspects," he told reporters after attending an information session on current issues by Najib at the Putra World Trade Centre here Sunday.

Meanwhile, Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil also expressed her disappointment that parents had brought their children to join Saturday's demonstrations.

Such an irresponsible act showed that the parents were willing to use their own children as human shields to protect themselves during the demonstrations, said Shahrizat, who is also Women, Family and Community Development Minister.

"We could have taken their children from them during the illegal assembly because they were violating the law, but we didn't do that because we still cared about them," she said.

Umno Information chief Ahmad Maslan, on the other hand, said the organisers' act in staging the street demonstration in the name of democracy showed that they were the ones who did not practise what they preached.

"By holding street demonstrationd, they actually tried to ruin democracy and the government chosen by the people through a democratic process," he said.

Rural and Regional Development Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal, who is also an Umno vice-president, said he had instructed Mara director-general Ibrahim Ahmad to investigate if any Mara sponsored students had participated in the demonstrations yesterday so that action could be taken against them.

Commenting on Saturday's illegal assemblies, Shafie praised the police for controlling the situation very well.

He also said the poor turnout showed the organisers had over-estimated their influence.