PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden said the gathering will be held in the Klang Valley but the location has yet to be confirmed.

He said the early announcement was intended to give political groups and civil society organisations time to mobilise and prepare.

“We urge all parties, including NGOs, students and concerned individuals, to come together in this peaceful rally and take a firm stand in rejecting this bill to ensure urban justice and protect the future of communities in the country’s major cities,” he told a press conference at the party’s headquarters today.

Afnan said all the PAS Youth divisions will also deliver a memorandum on the issue to their respective MPs and that it will include 10 to 15 suggested alternatives to the proposed legislation.

On March 24, Afnan had said the youth wing would not be cowed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s warning against efforts to derail the URA.

Anwar had previously urged the opposition not to obstruct the bill, which he said was aimed at improving the lives of urban Malays.

Afnan reiterated the party’s strong opposition to the URA, especially on the proposal to lower the agreement threshold needed for en bloc redevelopment, because it could be exploited by developers.

However, he denied that the party was against any form of urban renewal.

He said that in principle, the proposed bill must have a “fair and transparent” mechanism to avoid sacrificing the rights of the original residents.

Afnan also called for other Perikatan Nasional parties and Muda, whose sole MP, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, has voiced opposition against URA, to join PAS in the rally.

Separately, he criticised the recent visit to dilapidated urban flats organised by housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming.

He said PAS MPs had declined to join the visit as they found it to be part of Nga’s “political optics”.

“Nga wanted us to see the rundown state of urban residential buildings. But they could be easily repaired by the state or federal government without needing to lower the participation threshold for redevelopment.

“Can his site visits explain the reason for lowering the threshold figure? We feel like the site visits are just for his political optics but it still does not answer our concerns,” he said.