KUALA LUMPUR: Members of a silat coalition, known as Gabungan Silat Pertahan Perlembagaan, submitted a memorandum to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong today, expressing their protest over International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and other issues.
Its chairman Shahruddin Esa and his deputy, Saiful Hakim Mohamed Noor handed over the memorandum to palace representative Azian Effendy at Istana Negara this morning.
Apart from the ICERD issue, Shahruddin said the note also highlighted the group's other demands which included calling for the protection and upholding of Malay rights, Federal Constitution and the royal institution.
“We marched today, all the way from the Federal Territories Mosque to handover this memorandum to Istana Negara.
“This is from silat associations nationwide and we hope the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will look into it and make the right decision.
“At the same time, we also thanked the government for not ratifying ICERD. But we can't help but wonder if there is a guarantee that the matter will not be brought up again in the future.
“We are not here to create a scene. We just want to express our concerns on many issues related to the Malays and Bumiputera,” he said.
Thousands of members from 313 silat associations nationwide had earlier gathered at the Federal Territories Mosque entrance this morning.
Clad in 'baju Melayu' and traditional silat attire, they walked about three kilometres to Gate 3 of the Istana Negara.
At the gate about 10.30am, some members performed a silat demonstration before handing over the memorandum to a place representative.
Meanwhile, Sharuddin said the silat coalition has no plan to join the anti-ICERD rally at Dataran Merdeka this afternoon.