SHAH ALAM, 11 Jan: The attitude of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in keeping silent during the Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960 reintroduction campaign proves that he is not relevant in determining the direction of the country.
DAP Advisor, Lim Kit Siang, said that Najib is trying to presents himself as leader of a moderate nation on the global stage but did not seem to play a role when it came to making decisions on important issues affecting the country.
“There appears to be a convergence of reactionary and undemocratic forces to create a hothouse atmosphere in Malaysia.
“These forces appear to be trying to use the hothouse atmosphere in Malaysia to justify restoring the draconian ISA law,” said Lim in a statement.
The Gelang Patah Member of Parliament said that against this backdrop, Najib seemed truly irrelevant and his promise of making Malaysia the best democracy in the world mere rhetoric.
Lim asked whether the reactionary and undemocratic forces, led by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had enlisted the support of the police and mainstream media.
“Although this group has yet to nominate their own prime minister, they seem to dictate the policies which must be adopted by the Umno/Barisan Nasional government,” he said.
Previously, the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, started the ball rolling when he remarked that the ISA was needed to control an extremist minority who were threatening Malaysia’s stability.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar then hopped on board the bandwagon, saying he wished and hoped for the ISA to be reintroduced.
The Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Selatan, Tony Pua, said that Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar was unfit to hold the position of Inspector-General of Police when he issued a statement advocating the reintroduction of the ISA.
He said that the statement is contradictory to Najib’s statement when he welcomed the visit of the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, by saying when other countries are getting further away from the principals of democracy, Malaysia and Turkey share the commitment to the spirit and practice of democracy.
“Malaysians are worried that the Inspector-General will once again lead the campaign to restore the draconian act (ISA) which is misused to detain politicians without using the judicial system,” Tony Pua said.
