KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Malaysia's general election campaign got off to an angry start on Sunday as the opposition accused Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's ruling coalition of trying to frighten voters with "inflammatory" advertisements.

Lim Kit Siang, secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), said he had lodged a complaint with police against full-page newspaper advertisements which he called "inflammatory and irresponsible."

The DAP had decided to lodge more complaints accusing Mahathir's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition of placing advertisements which constituted defamation and sedition, he said.

The advertisements published in English and Chinese-language newspapers on the first day of official campaigning for the November 29 parliamentary election urged voters to support the BN as the party of peace and stability.

They depicted violent scenes during demonstrations by supporters of jailed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim.

"Don't Let Anarchy Rule," "Don't Let Violence Triumph" and "Don't Let Hatred Win" said the captions under photographs of a protester kicking a car, a trash bin on fire during a demonstration and protesters throwing stones at police.

"The Barisan Nasional advertisements are suggesting that the DAP leaders are mobsters, advocate violence and want anarchy, and these are highly seditious," Lim said.

Mahathir defended the advertisements. "They are facts. We are just telling the people what happened," he told reporters.

The 73-year-old prime minister, who is Asia's longest serving elected leader, noted that riots erupted in 1969 after support for the BN's predecessor, the Alliance, waned in polls that year.

"The racial riots of 1969 happened because of uncertainty whether the then Alliance would rule or not. I can't guarantee what will happen if the opposition should win," he said.

MAHATHIR LASHES OUT AT ANWAR

The opposition is bent on denying Mahathir's 14-party, multi-ethnic coalition a two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time in three decades.

Mahathir spent much of the first day of the campaign denouncing Anwar and the Islamic fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS).

Anwar, who is serving a six-year jail term for corruption and standing trial on one count of sodomy, was the opposition's joint candidate for prime minister until he decided not to stand.

Anwar's sacking in 1998 and subsequent jailing ignited unprecedented anti-government unrest. Mahathir has accused him of trying to topple the government with riots, but Anwar says he was the victim of a government conspiracy.

"Anything he (Anwar) does will be blamed on the government," Mahathir told reporters in the capital. "He keeps insisting he is innocent. If he is, why has he not sued those who have accused him of sodomising them?"

Mahathir's coalition issued an election manifesto that traced familiar themes, claiming credit for Malaysia's average annual economic growth of seven percent over three decades and for protecting the nation against "rogue currency traders."

The government imposed foreign exchange controls in September 1998, infuriating currency dealers.