KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Bernama) -- About 300 retired policemen today staged a peaceful demonstration at the National Monument here, expressing support for the government's handling of the armed intrusion in Sabah and condemning PKR vice-president Tian Chua's controversial statement.

The demonstrators, led by former Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Shamsuri Arshad, comprised representatives from among retired personnel of the VAT 69 Commando Unit, Police Squad 69 Unit, Ex-Policemen's Association of Malaysia, Special Branch, Police Field Force, Yayasan Pengaman Malaysia and the Retired Senior Police Officers Association of Malaysia (Respa).

Among those who took part in the hour-long demonstration were former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Norian Mai, former Deputy IGP Tan Sri Mohd Najib Abdul Aziz, former Deputy IGP Tan Sri Husin Ismail, former Director of CID Tan Sri Mohd Zaman Khan and former Kuala Lumpur Deputy Chief Police Officer Datuk Khoo Ah See.

The demonstrators carried banners condemning Tian Chua and demanding his apology for having stated that the armed intrusion in Lahad Datu was orchestrated by Umno to divert attention and intimidate the people.

Eight policemen were killed in skirmishes with armed intruders claiming to be from the royal army of the Sulu Sultanate in the Philippines, in Kampung Tanduo near Lahad Datu and Semporna on March 1 and 2.

Shamsuri said the deaths of the policemen should not be ridiculed as a drama staged by the government.

"He (Tian Chua) cannot mock the deaths by saying that it is all a drama because this will only add to the melancholy of the policemen's families. A life cannot be substituted with cash. The policemen have made a huge sacrifice as national heroes," he said.

Shamsuri stressed that the police pensioners were in support of and confident of the measures taken by Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar and Chief of Defence Forces Gen Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin in handling the armed intrusion.

He condemned a statement on a Facebook account under the name of 'Jonathan Lin' which described the policemen slain in Lahad Datu as "two police dogs of Umno".

"This is an insult to the estimated two million police personnel, serving and retired. It should not have been issued by any individual living in a peaceful environment established with the dedicated service of the police," he said.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will take the country to greater heights if the Barisan Nasional is returned to power in the next general election, said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Dr Mahathir said it was not easy to stabilise a multiracial country for there were many challenges confronting the leaders as well as the people.

"This is a multiracial, multireligious, multilingual and multicultural country. As wealth, economic growth and development are shared by each other, it is a challenge for the leaders to manage all this aspects at the same time to ensure stability and peace in the country.

"For example, the European crisis has affected Europe and the United States, (the economy of) a lot of countries are not growing, but we are still growing," he said when delivering a talk on "The Future of Malaysian Politics" at the ICCAM Alumni annual dinner here, Saturday night.

He said as most of opposition supporters were from the younger generation who were always hungry for change, the opposition manipulated the word "change".

"Since the younger generation is always asking for change, it is easier for the opposition to gain their support because what they need is to promise something new.

"But quite often when change takes place we may get something worse," he said.

Dr Mahathir said the younger generation were less appreciative of what they have for they were not even born when the older generation were struggling to gain independence from the British colonial power.

KANGAR, March 3 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak joined security forces and residents of Seriab, near here, to pray for the safety of Sabah due to the armed intrusion from Southern Philippines and for the security personnel on duty there.

Najib, ended his one-day working visit to Perlis, with a stop at the Seriab Mosque for solat sunat prayers with hundreds of residents and security personnel , led by Perlis Islamic Religious Affairs and Malay Customs Council (MAIPs) chief executive officer Ustaz Abdul Malik Husin.

Also present were Perlis Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Md Isa Sabu, Perlis Islamic Religious Committee chairman Jafperi Othman, former Perlis Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim and Perlis police chief SAC Zull Aznam Haron.

Najib spent about 20 minutes at the mosque before leaving for the Sultan Abdul Halim airport in Alor Setar, onwards to Kuala Lumpur.

During an '1M4U' gathering at the Perlis State Assembly complex square earlier, Najib urged the youths who attended the programme to pray for the security personnel who had died in the armed intrusion so far.

He said that peace must be defended and those killed in the process made the ultimate sacrifice in defending the country.

The Prime Minister had a packed schedule in Perlis since this morning, which included the Jelajah Janji Ditepati programme at Stadium Utama, Kangar, opening the Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) campus in Pauh Putra, an audience with Raja Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail at Istana Arau and a youth gathering at the Perlis State Assembly complex square.