Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has asked Malacca Umno liaison committee to withdraw its instruction to grassroots members to participate in the red-shirts counter-rally against Bersih this Saturday.

"As party secretary-general, I already told them to withdraw the letter and not to participate in any red-shirt rally, or yellow (shirt) or whatever colour," he said.

"We told them not to coordinate too," he said when launching a new seafood restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.

This comes following the circulation of a letter, purportedly from Malacca Umno information chief Sulaiman Md Ali, instructing grassroots members to attend a coordination meeting to facilitate the red-shirts rally.

"This (red-shirts rally) has nothing to do with Umno," Tengku Adnan said.

He confirmed that only the Malacca Umno liaison committee had issued the letter, which it withdrew upon his instruction.

Viral message on Perak Umno

Tengku Adnan, who is fondly known as Ku Nan, denied Perak Umno agreed to pay RM50 for grassroots members to join the rally.

The message that Perak Umno has mobilised 5,000 members to join the rally, with each paid RM50 for food, has gone viral in WhatsApp groups.

Tengku Adnan also claimed that the party would not know if its members joined the anti-Bersih rally in their personal capacity.

He said the party would also not suggest any disciplinary action against those who insisted on doing so.

"(Red-shirts group leader) Jamal (Md Yunos) and (Bersih leader) Maria Chin Abdullah, we leave them to the police," he said.

"It is not for us to say anything. Illegal is illegal," he added.

The Umno minister also appealed to both the rally organisers not to mobilise the Nov 19 rallies.

"When they do this, people will be scared of going into the city. Businesses will drop, and their living will be affected.

"Please don’t go and disrupt a peaceful Malaysia. That's my advice," Tengku Adnan said.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur mayor Mhd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz, who attended the event, said Kuala Lumpur City Hall would bill both Bersih and red-shirts for any damages and for cleaning-up, just like it did in the previous year.

"(Rallies will only) waste our time, our energy, costs and budget. Rallies are not a good habit," Mhd Amin said.

Meanwhile in Parliament, deputy home minister and Umno Pulai MP Nur Jazlan Mohamed beat around the bush on the participation of party members in the red-shirts rally.

When asked if disciplinary action should be taken against Umno members who join the protest, Nur Jazlan replied: "Only if they break the law."

However when pointed out that police had classified both the red-shirt and Bersih rallies as illegal, Nur Jazlan said being in the vicinity doesn't mean joining the protests.

"They may not join the rally, they might just be walking beside the rally.

"You have to prove that they're doing something wrong," he said.