The Umno group, Gerakan Akar Umbi Umno Malaysia, said it expected 3,000 people to attend the rally, called Himpunan Merah Rakyat Bersatu Tolak Rasuah.

“Our initial plan is to march together with the yellow shirts (Bersih 5) at a few locations before moving to Dataran Merdeka,” said GAUM chairman Zulkarnain Mahdar.

“We promise to march in peace and hope Bersih 5 participants will agree to walk with us. We also hope there will be no extreme provocation at the rally,” he said.

He said GAUM would work with a coalition of four other NGOs and would have discussions with Red Shirts leader Jamal Md Yunos to make the rally a success.

Bersih, which is a coalition for free and fair elections, has called for a Bersih 5 street rally on Nov 19 to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak and for institutional reforms.

Jamal then announced he would stage a Red Shirts rally the same day.

When contacted by FMT, Jamal said he was willing to cooperate with anyone who wanted to unite and fight against Bersih 5.

This he said was in an effort to make the rakyat realise that what Bersih 5 is doing is ‘not normal’.

“We (our country) have laws. If they break the law, surely they will be breaking the laws of this country. You can’t expect we, as supporters of the government to just stand by and smile,” Jamal said.