KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysia prepared a massive security cordon to protect the Olympic torch relay against anti-China protests as it called Sunday for the Beijing Games to remain free of politics.
The Olympic flame, stored in a special container, arrived in Malaysia from Thailand early Sunday and was whisked to a hotel for safekeeping before Monday's relay run.
Some 300 Chinese students studying in Malaysia greeted the flame at the airport along with representatives from the National Sports Council and the police, a statement from the Olympic Council of Malaysia said.
"Malaysia takes this opportunity to reiterate that the Beijing Olympics should not be politicized and remains confident that the Olympics will be successfully held in August 2008," Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said in a statement.
The Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia lit candles at a Buddhist temple Sunday during an hour-long prayer to call for a trouble-free run of the torch Monday and a peaceful Olympics.
Growing criticism of China's human rights record has turned the Olympics into one of the most contentious in recent history.
China's recent crackdown in Tibet — which put down sometimes-violent demonstrations against Beijing's rule over the Himalayan region — triggered protests and attempted disruptions of the torch relay in several cities, notably Paris and London.
There have been no reports of possible disruptions to the relay in Malaysia, but police were taking no chances.
Some 1,000 policemen and commandos will be deployed along the 16-kilometer (10-mile) route beginning from the landmark Independence Square in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
Police "are fully aware of the challenges that this torch has faced in other situations, and they have been organizing themselves to face any of these challenges," said M. Jegathesan, vice president of the Olympic Council Malaysia.
The torch relay will end at the iconic Petronas Twin Towers in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Roads will be closed to traffic along the route.
Some of the 80 people nominated to carry the torch include Olympic badminton medalists Rashid Sidek, Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock, women's world squash champion Nicol David, bowler Shalin Zulkifli and swimmer Lim Keng Liat.
"The torch run is all about the Olympics and it has nothing to do with politics," P. Ganga Rao, secretary of the Badminton Association of Malaysia, told The Associated Press. "We are proud to be associated with the torch run."
On Friday, about 30 Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated in Kuala Lumpur, calling for an end to alleged Chinese human rights abuses ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
China has banned the Falun Gong spiritual movement as a dangerous cult. It is not banned in Malaysia.
No comments:
Post a Comment