2025 Oust Anwar rally

Oust Anwar rally هيمڤونن تورون انور Himpunan Turun Anwar
Participants are seen marching to Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur for the final event of the Oust Anwar rally. A participant is seen holding a white flag that says "TURUN ANWAR" ("OUST ANWAR").
Date	26 July 2025 (Saturday) 9:00 am – 6:00 pm (MST) (Around 9 hours)
Location	Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Marching from Dataran Sogo, Jamek Mosque, National Mosque and Central Market)
Caused by	Public dissatisfaction with the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim Increasing prices of goods High cost of living Implementation of the Urban Renewal Act (URA) Increasing prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Abolition of subsidies Failure to carry out reforms Implementation of Sales and Services Tax (SST) Political intimidation
Goals	Resignation of Anwar Ibrahim
Methods	Peaceful assembly Political demonstration Speechs and sermons Internet activism
Concessions	Reduction of petrol price Distribution of 15 billion ringgit (US$3.55 billion) of cash handout Freezing of the plan to raise toll price
Parties
#OustAnwar Rally Secretariat[note 1] PN BERSATU PAS GERAKAN MIPP GTA PUTRA BERJASA PEJUANG MUDA PSM PPP URIMAI MAP PERKASA Malaysia Unity Government KDN PDRM FRU JPM KWP DBKL APM KPKT JBPM
Lead figures
Muhyiddin Yassin Hamzah Zainudin Mahathir Mohamad Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden Muhammad Hilman Idham Anwar Ibrahim Saifuddin Nasution Ismail Mohd Khalid Ismail Zaliha Mustafa Maimunah Mohd Sharif Aminurrahim Mohamed Nga Kor Ming Nor Hisham Mohammad
Number
~18,000 participants[note 2] [1] ~25,000 participants [note 3][2] ~300,000 participants[note 4][3] ~3,000 police officers[note 5][4]

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of Malaysia
Head of State Yang di-Pertuan Agong Ibrahim Iskandar Conference of Rulers
Legislature Parliament of Malaysia 15th Parliament Senate (Dewan Negara) President Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat) Speaker Johari Abdul Leader of the Government Anwar Ibrahim Leader of the Opposition Hamzah Zainudin
Executive Cabinet Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim Civil service (agencies) Chief Secretary Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar
Judiciary Federal Court Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh Court of Appeal President Zabariah Mohd Yusof (acting) High Court in Malaya ∙ High Court in Sabah and Sarawak Chief Judge of Malaya Hasnah Mohammed Hashim Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli
Elections Election Commission of Malaysia General elections: 2022 Electoral districts
Political parties BN PH PN GPS GRS List of political parties in Malaysia
Federalism State governments Chief ministers of the states State legislatures (members) Local governments (list)
Ideologies and concepts Anarchism Communism Conservatism Feminism Rukun Negara Malay nationalism Reformasi Islam Hadhari Asian values Race and politics Dayaks in politics Ketuanan Melayu Bumiputera Malaysian Malaysia Social contract
Malaysia portal Politics portal Other countries

The 2025 Oust Anwar rally (Jawi: هيمڤونن تورون انور; Malay: Himpunan Turun Anwar) was a protest rally held in Kuala Lumpur on 26 July 2025.^[5][6][7][8] The protest was organized by the Secretariat of the #OustAnwar Rally^{[note 1]} and supported by the Malaysian Opposition, which consists of political parties within the Perikatan Nasional (PN) component and other smaller parties. The main location chosen for the protest was Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.

Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim

Malaysia PAS Youth Chief, Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden

The main goal of the rally is to bring down the current Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim (left) and the Malaysian Unity Government he leads. PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden (right) explained that initially, a rally was to be held to protest the Urban Regeneration Act (URA), but it was changed to "Oust Anwar Rally".

The protest was held, among other things, to express the people's dissatisfaction with the government led by Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim. The protest was also held to protest the implementation of the Urban Renewal Act (URA), the increase in the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), the elimination of subsidies, the failure to carry out reforms in Malaysian politics, the implementation of the Sales and Services Tax (SST) and the political intimidation of the opposition by the Malaysian Unity Government.^[9] PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden also added that the rally was intended to express solidarity with Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, a former research assistant to Anwar who was accused of trafficking cannabis and possessing two imitation pistols last year.^[10]

Initially, the rally was called the "Himpunan Bantah URA" ("Protest Against URA Rally") which was organised by the Malaysian PAS Youth Council (DPPM), but PAS Youth Chief Afnan Hamimi said the initial plan to hold a rally to protest the government's proposal to introduce the Urban Renewal Act (URA) was changed to "Oust Anwar Rally".^{[note 1][11][12][13]} There were allegations that the rally was changed or rebranded because it didn't receive a warm response from the public. Tuaran PKR branch chief Razeef Rakimin said the issue did not receive a response because the people understood the purpose of urban renewal. He also added that "PAS's action to change the rally's name was because the issue they were campaigning for did not receive a response".^[14]

According to an open letter inviting people to attend the rally, there are 15 reasons why the public to hold this gathering, including:

• Failure to reduce the cost of living of the people,
• Promises of 15th General Election broken,
• Prices of goods rising, salaries not rising,
• Cronyism and nepotism getting worse,
• Malaysia Madani policy is only "played on paper",
• Education and public health are increasingly neglected,
• The people are divided by racial and religious sentiments,
• The original spirit of Reformasi has been betrayed,
• GLCs are still wasteful, leakages are rampant,
• The country has no clear economic direction,
• Agriculture and food have failed to develop,
• Abolition of pensions and permanent employment positions in the public sector,
• Young people have lost hope of getting houses and jobs,
• The Palestinian issue is just a slogan, not action,
• Bribers continue to be protected,
• Anwar is a symbol of failure and elite manipulation.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) have targeted at least 300,000 participants who will attended the rally,^[15] while the RMP have expected approximately 10,000 to 15,000 participants who will present.^[16] It is expected that 2,000 police officers will be deployed to control the rally.^[17] Opposition Leader and Larut MP, Hamzah Zainudin expected around 500,000 up to 1,000,000 participants will present,^[18][19] whereas Arau MP, Shahidan Kassim expected at least 300,000 to 500,000 people.^[20][21]

The RMP has received nearly 60 police reports across Malaysia, with 10 in Kuala Lumpur in connection with the rally. Acting Kuala Lumpur Police Chief Datuk Mohamed Usuf Jan Mohamad said participants are expected to gather at five main locations, namely the National Mosque, Central Market, Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad, Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru and Dataran Sogo before moving to Dataran Merdeka. He added that "To ensure the safety of public service users at the maximum level, public service operators and the police will be reinforced at several stations involved". Among the stations involved are the KL Sentral, Masjid Jamek, Pasar Seni, Dang Wangi, Plaza Rakyat and Bandaraya LRT stations; as well as MRT and Monorail stations such as Muzium Negara, Merdeka, Bukit Bintang, Imbi, Raja Chulan, Bukit Nanas, Medan Tuanku and Chow Kit.^[22][23]

On the same day, Prime Minister, Anwar made an announcement and was broadcast live on television stations and social media platforms to provide a one-off RM100 donation to every Malaysian citizens and adults aged 18 years and above through their respective MyKads under the Basic Rahmah Contribution (SARA) program. The donation will be made on Merdeka Day on 31 August and the donation will benefit 22 million Malaysians with an allocation of RM2.0 billion. He also announced an additional public holiday on Monday, 15 September 2025 in conjunction with Malaysia Day, the allocation for the MADANI Rahmah Sales was doubled to RM600 million and it was expanded to all 600 DUN constituencies so that the price of basic goods was affordable, there was no increase in tolls for 10 highways after the government allocated more than RM500 million to absorb the cost and the price of RON95 petrol was reduced to RM1.99 per litre in September 2025.^[24][25]

Acting President of the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA), Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz said the party was not one of the organisers of the rally. However, any member was not prevented from joining the rally because the MUDA party leadership respected the people's right to participate in peaceful assemblies.^[26] PAS Deputy President, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said that PAS is ready to provide legal services to civil servants who will be subject to disciplinary action if they join the rally. He added that "The people's right to assemble is guaranteed in the Malaysian Constitution. So when the Constitution guarantees it, there should be no other regulations that contradict the Constitution. Even civil servants, they have the right to assemble and before, many groups of civil servants have assembled, for example doctors. So if anyone will be subject to action, every party is ready to provide assistance. God willing, we are confident that many parties will help".^[27]

The Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia, Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar, has warned all civil servants working under the Malaysian public sector not to participate in the Oust Anwar rally. He also added that the action of participating in the rally is not in line with the principle of "Loyalty to the King and Country" contained in the Rukun Negara.^[28][29]

The Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia (AGC) has stressed that the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly is not absolute. The AGC added that every civil servant is subject to a letter of undertaking as provided for in subregulation 20(3) of the Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Termination of Service) Regulations 2012. The AGC added that "This Department also stresses that, although Articles 10(1)(a) and 10(1)(b) provide for the right of every citizen to speak and express his opinion, as well as the right to assemble peacefully and unarmed, these rights are not absolute. Accordingly, any public assembly is also subject to the requirement to comply with existing laws including specific instructions issued by the authorities including instructions by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia (KSN) to civil servants".^[30][31][32]

On July 26, 2025, the Minister of Housing and Local Government, Nga Kor Ming, criticized the actions of the participants of the Oust Anwar rally who threw garbage everywhere, causing inconvenience to the sanitation workers. Through a post on the X platform, the Teluk Intan Member of Parliament stressed that due to the irresponsible actions of the opposition supporters, the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleaning Corporation (SWCorp) had to work hard to clean up the dirt left behind. It is understood that 15 metric tons or 15,000 kilograms (kg) of garbage were left behind by the participants of the rally.^[33]

• Occupy Dataran
• 2013 Malaysian general election protest
• May Day anti-GST rally 2014
• People's Uprising rally
• Tangkap Najib rally
• 2018 anti-ICERD rally