By Liau Y-Sing and Jalil Hamid
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia deployed hundreds ofpolice to stop an opposition rally on Friday against fuel pricerises that have stoked public anger and handed a politicalweapon to Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Badawi's rivals.
Protests have so far been small and scattered, but onFriday, after Muslim prayers, the opposition hopes to draw20,000 people in a march from a mosque in a poor part of KualaLumpur to the iconic Petronas Towers in the city centre tounderline anger against the state energy giant.
Malaysia joined India, Indonesia, Taiwan and Sri Lanka inraising pump prices last week, provoking a public outcry in theoil producing country. Soaring global fuel costs have triggeredstrikes by truckers from Thailand to Spain.
Friday's protest is seen as a major political test forPrime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, already fighting for hispolitical survival after the governing coalition's dismalelectoral performance in March.
About 2,000 police were deployed around the cream-colouredKampung Baru mosque and the twin towers, the Star news alertservice said. Several red-shirted members of the Parti IslamSeMalaysia (PAS), which has called the protest, stood outsidethe mosque as the prayers began.
Police have urged people not to join the rally, deemedillegal because no permit has been issued, and warned theywould arrest protest leaders.
"We are not sure how many protesters will turn up and whichroutes they will take. But we are taking all precautionarymeasures," a police spokesman told Reuters.
There are tight restrictions on public gatherings inMalaysia, but the opposition has said it will go ahead anyway.
"The people are angry. They say the fuel price is very highso they want to say something," said Safarizal Saleh, a leaderof the youth wing of the PAS.
Petrol prices were raised by 41 percent and diesel 63percent in line with a global surge in oil prices, whichtouched a record $139 a barrel last month. The measure willdrive Malaysia's inflation to a 10-year high of 4.2 percent in2008.
"Chief ministers and ministers' have huge pay packets andthe government pays for their petrol. So they do not understandthe sufferings of the rural folk," Nik Aziz Nik Mat, thespiritual leader of PAS and chief minister of the northeasternstate of Kelantan, said.
NO MORE HIKES
The government says it will save 13.7 billion ringgit (2.2billion pounds) as part of a broad overhaul of its heavilysubsided energy pricing system.
Trying to assuage public anger, Prime Minister Abdullah hassaid there will not be any more fuel increases this year andannounced a cut in the allowances of ministers as part ofmeasures to curb government costs.
But critics, led by former Deputy Prime Minister AnwarIbrahim, have rejected the measures as too little andquestioned why Malaysia, the largest net oil exporter in Asia,should face the fuel hike when the country earns 250 millionringgit a year in revenue for every $1 rise in crude prices.
"Although Petronas is estimated to have earned 2 trillionringgit over the last 34 years ... its accounts are notaccessible to (the) public nor by the people's electedrepresentative in Parliament," said Waytha Moorthy, chairman ofHINDRAF, a group campaigning for the rights of ethnic Indianswhich is supporting the fuel protests.
Petronas posted a record profit of $12.9 billion (6.6billion pounds) for the year ended March 31 2007, helped by aboom in crude oil prices. The state oil firm is expected torelease its 2008 earnings at the end of June.
On top of higher fuel costs, the government, like itscounterparts in the region, is also battling the spirallingcost of food by trying to lock in supplies of rice.
Abdullah was due to launch a programme later on Friday inKelantan to step up rice production. Malaysia meets nearly 70percent of its rice demand from domestic production.
(Additional reporting by Niluksi Koswanage; Writing bySanjeev Miglani; Editing by Alex Richardson)
