PETALING JAYA: The organiser of a Dec 8 mass rally in Kuala Lumpur to protest the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) has claimed victory following the government's decision not to ratify it.

Aminuddin Yahaya, secretariat chief of the Malay-Muslim NGO Ummah, said the Dec 8 rally would continue as planned, but this time as a celebration.

“It will go ahead, to celebrate the victory of the rakyat's move to pressure the government into rejecting ICERD,” Aminuddin said on Friday.

Ummah, together with another group Sekretariat Kedaulatan Negara, is organising the anti-ICERD rally at Dataran Merdeka. Both PAS and Umno had earlier declared they would join would join the rally.

On Thursday, Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki was reported to have said that nearly one million people from Umno, PAS and various NGOs would take part in the protest.

Earlier Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement announcing that the Pakatan Harapan government would not ratify ICERD.