KUALA LUMPUR: Co-organiser of last Saturday's rally to give thanks to the government for not acceding to the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) has slammed those still pushing for it.
Gerakan Pembela Ummah (UMMAH) chairman Aminuddin Yahaya dismissed such move by certain quarters, including the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) as irrational and malicious.
"Despite more than half a million Malaysians having stated their dissatisfaction and have rejected ICERD, they are still being stubborn and arrogant by making such statements.
"It is better for SUHAKAM to be disbanded if their intention is just to create chaos in the country by going against the Federal Constitution. Do we want to follow the ways of the West?
"Same goes for other quarters supporting ICERD, these people are arrogant and do not understand and are not aware of what the rakyat wants," he said when met after giving his statement to the police with regard to last Saturday's rally at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters, here, today.
It was reported yesterday that SUHAKAM chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail said the commission would continue to advice the government to ratify the six remaining international conventions on human rights that Malaysia has not signed, including ICERD.
Meanwhile, Aminuddin said police recorded his statement as UMMAH chairman and the statement of Pertubuhan Muafakat Sejahtera Masyarakat Malaysia (Muafakat) secretary-general Mahmud Hishamuddin for about 40 minutes.
"We gave full cooperation to the police and are prepared to be called in again if our statement is needed," he said.
Commenting on those who brought children to the gathering, he said as the organisers, they released a standard operating procedure (SOP) for participants to abide by.
"This shows that we (organisers) made the right move, perhaps some of the participants also wanted to go shopping, so they brought their kids along," he said.
The rally on Saturday kicked off peacefully and ended in the same manner with no untoward incidents.
Police estimated an attendance of some 55,000 while the organisers estimated a 500,000 turnout.
The rally was jointly organised by UMMAH, Muafakat and the Kedaulatan Rakyat secretariat (RAKYAT) and saw the attendance of political figures from Umno and PAS.