Hardening his stand against anti-government protesters including the ethnic Indians, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmed Badawi yesterday said he would ?sacrifice? public freedom in order to maintain national security in the country rocked by a spate of agitations.

Badawi said he would not ?sacrifice his sense of accountability to the greater public, especially in the face of police intelligence about planned fighting or other violent intents.?

?If the choice is between public safety and public freedom, I do not hesitate to say here that public safety will always win,? Badawi said while delivering the Khazanah Global Lecture Series here.

His comments came a day after police detained 21 opposition members and lawyers for staging ?illegal? rallies. Last week, 31 ethnic Indians were arrested on charges of attempted murder of a policeman when they assembled for a rally against their alleged marginalisation which was banned by the government.

?Malaysians must never, ever, take their peace for granted and they must continue to be responsible to each other,? he said. ?If we are to evolve into a society that can peacefully live with media freedom, public debates or public show of expression, the value and the burden of responsibility must lie with the ordinary people, not just with those who manage the country.?

?In this age of relative affluence and stability, we sometimes forget that there are many groups within the country ? each with their own set of demands, each with their own set of sensitivities,? he noted.

Twenty-six ethnic Indians have been charged with attempted murder in connection with an anti-discrimination rally in Malaysia last month, a lawyer said last week. The defendants pleaded innocent to charges of attempting to kill a police officer during a clash at a temple compound outside Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25, said lawyer M. Manoharan Malayalam.

The rally, involving 10,000 people, was the largest protest in at least a decade involving Indians, the country?s second-largest minority population after ethnic Chinese. They had demanded equality and fair treatment in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

?It?s very shocking,? Manoharan said. ?This is a clear victimisation of the Indians by bringing forth a malicious prosecution that is race-based.?

Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail said the policeman received stitches on his head after being attacked with bricks and iron pipes. ?This has nothing to do with race,? he said. ?We follow the law. It applies to everyone under the sun.?

Manoharan said that the 26 Indians were earlier arrested during the rally and about half of them have already been charged for illegal assembly. They were released on bail but police rearrested them at their homes before dawn in a surprise raid, he said. They face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty, he added.

Indians, who make up 8 % of the country?s 27 million people, say they suffer discrimination because of an affirmative action policy that favours the majority Malay Muslims in jobs, education, business and government contracts.