Thousands of Malaysia's ruling party supporters rallied today to support the embattled government of Prime Minister Najib Razak following calls for the resigntion of the premier over a USD 700 million scandal.
The rally carried out by supporters of United Malay National Organisation or Umno.
Umno is a component of the ruling Barisan coalition party. The other two main components are Malaysian Chinese Association and the ethnic Indian Malaysian Indian Congress . Umno is the majority party comprising Malays who are all Muslims.
The rally was organised by members of Umno in response to a two-day massive anti-government gathering last month calling for Najib's resignation over the financial scandal.
The rally was organised by a band of NGOs under the banner Bersih which means 'Clean'.
Police has declared that this rally is legal but said a few areas dominated by Chinese business interests were off limit.
Najib, 61, had said that he would not stop Umno members from attending the rally.
The rally has come under critics from opposition parties, a few Umno members and former premier Mahathir Mohammad.
Hundreds of young ethnic Malay men wearing UMNO red tee-shirts marched the streets with some carrying banners and shouting slogans such as "Long live the Malays".
UMNO has governed multi-ethnic Malaysia since its independence 58 years, reserving economic and other advantages for Muslim Malays, much to the dismay ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities living here.
The demonstrators have promised that the rally would be peaceful.
The anti-government rally last month was held after a foreign publication released documents showing that USD 700 million had been deposited in premier Najib's accounts from a state fund.
Najib has denied the charges and the country's anti-graft body has cleared him of the charges.
His government has called them "political donations" from Middle Eastern sources but has refused to give details.
