The MCA respects the right of anyone in the country to hold an assembly, provided the rally is lawful and does not cause any racial tension, said party deputy president Wee Ka Siong.

Wee, who is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said he was worried that a rally planned for Kuala Lumpur on Sept 16 could cause racial tension and undermine harmony if such a requirement was not met.

He said the MCA totally agreed with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak that any assembly should be lawful and not create any racial tension.

“The MCA has been an agent of ‘perpaduan’ (unity); we want to see peace, racial harmony, and we must maintain that. So, I hope there won’t be any untoward incident,” he told reporters after launching a roadshow of the Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Entrepreneurs (SAME) in Malacca today.

Yesterday, Najib said Umno would not compromise when it came to the question of peace and order, and that the proposed Sept 16 rally must not be used as a platform to cause racial tension.

Wee said the best thing to do was to call off the rally and replace it with a programme that could create unity among Malaysians.

- Bernama