“There is a big difference between the people’s voice and the political agendas of certain parties who are trying to drag the people into validating their lust for power,” said Shamsul Iskandar Akin, senior political secretary to the prime minister.

He said the government led by Anwar Ibrahim was built upon an electoral mandate and Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin and his coalition partners should return to the electoral arena if they were confident that public sentiment about the government had shifted.

“Not through street rallies, not by inflating crowd numbers, and not by manipulating racial and religious issues to provoke emotions,” he said in a statement, Bernama reported.

His statement comes in the wake of the “Turun Anwar” rally in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, which police said was attended by an estimated 18,000 people. However, PAS officials claimed that 200,000 people took part.

The rally was later described by PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan as a vote of no confidence by the people against Anwar and he urged the prime minister to take heed of the turnout and resign instead of waiting for a confidence motion in the Dewan Rakyat.

Shamsul said in a statement that the government respected the people’s right to assemble and express opinions, and had ensured that no harsh action was taken, no tear gas fired, and no stages destroyed.

“The people’s right to speak is protected. But their voices must not be exploited, and democracy must not be held hostage in the name of vengeance and power struggles,” he said.