Riot police fired tear-gas to disperse at least 5,000 ethnic Malays who demonstrated in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur Saturday against the use of English in local schools, witnesses said. The protesters planned to march to the royal palace to ask the king to intervene in the row over schools teaching science and maths in English rather than in the Malay language.
But they were blocked by scores of anti-riot police. Protester Hatta Ramli said police began to fire tear-gas as the demonstrators began their march from the National Mosque to the palace about three kilometres (two miles) away. "It was a peaceful march. They shot (tear-gas) without any warning," he said. "Many times the police fired tear-gas at us. I am exhausted."
Hatta said Hadi Awang, president of the conservative Islamic party PAS, participated in the protest. Language, race and religion are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which experienced deadly riots in 1969. Police defended their action in which, according to the Star online, at least 124 people were detained. The protest caused huge traffic jams in the city. Musa Hassan, inspector general of police, said organisers had agreed with police that there would not be any gatherings or demonstrations.
They agreed to send representatives into the palace after afternoon prayers but opposition political parties like PAS and Keadilan turned it into a demonstration, he said. "We had no choice but to use tear-gas to disperse the crowd who refused to listen to police warnings," Musa was quoted as saying by the Star online.
Malays make up 60 percent of the population of about 27 million, compared with 26 percent ethnic Chinese and eight percent ethnic Indians. The protest by pro-Malay language activists and opposition political leaders was held despite assurances from the government Friday that the Malay language would not be sidelined. Najib Razak, the deputy prime minister, said English was important in a globalised world but that the government would continue to ensure Malay was the official teaching language.
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