PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak described Sunday's 'One Million People Protest Rally' organised by the Opposition in Petaling Jaya a failure because of the poor turnout.

"The people did not turn up in the numbers expected. Only the hardcore supporters were there," he told reporters after launching the Settlers Day celebration at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre yesterday.

He said this when asked to comment on the rally to protest the fuel price increase that was held at the Kelana Jaya Stadium.

He said the Opposition's suggestion that all Petronas' money be used to reduce the fuel price in the local market was unrealistic and would have long-term repercussions on the national oil company.

This was because Petronas would not be able to use the money for reinvestment if all its funds were used to subsidise the petrol price, he said.

"This is a difficult time for all governments in the world except the big oil producing nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates," he said.

Najib said the Government would do whatever it could to ease the people's burden and was now assessing the impact of the fuel price increase before introducing new measures.