KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — The 1.27 million signatures collected by “Save Malaysia” indicated discontent with Putrajaya that is significant regardless of what the signatories are, said supporters of the movement.

Responding to Umno minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor who on Monday dismissed the backers as mostly students, PKR vice-president Chua Thian Chang said this would indicate the youth’s rejection of the current administration.

“It doesn’t actually matter which segment of the population, it is still over one million people who are voicing out,” Chua told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Bersih 2.0 chair Maria Chin Abdullah concurred, adding that those who signed are Malaysians who deserved to have their voices heard as citizens.

She added that Putrajaya must take note of the support for the petition, even if they were students.

“So what if it’s students signing, are they not Malaysians?” she questioned when contacted for comment by Malay Mail Online.

Tengku Adnan, commonly called Ku Nan, also said the number of signatories was small and not even 10 per cent of the population.

Chua and Chin rejected the minister’s dismissal, saying the number was significant enough to merit attention.

“It is still so many of the citizens involved. Over a million have spoken that they want corruption out of this country. Rather than slam down on who is signing it, or slamming the numbers, they need to see that this is something very urgent,” Chin said.

Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub also denounced Tengku Adnan’s comments, saying it was unbecoming for a minister to belittle the opinion of the youth.

“The student voices, the young generation also must be heard, and the government must take into consideration what they are fighting for,” he told Malay Mail Online.

“This attitude is not a good sign for the future of the country.”

Dr Mahathir on Saturday claimed that the Citizens Declaration movement had collected 1.271 million signatures, out of which 1.07 million were done online and another 200,000 signatures on printed forms.

On Monday, Tengku Adnan, who is federal territories minister, said Putrajaya has been “monitoring” the movement led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and found that most of the signatures obtained for the campaign to unseat Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak were during visits to universities and colleges here.