Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim ticked off Prime Minister Najib Razak and his Umno party for bullying the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia, saying they were unfit to lead the country if they could resort to such bigotry and intimidation just to cling to power.
The reform icon said this was evident in the way Najib had not bothered to chase up on the murder of Kugan Ananthan, a 22-year old car thief suspect who was tortured to death by the police while in remand.
Najib, who at that time was PM-in-waiting, had intervened by getting the Attorney-General to re-classify the case as murder. However, since assuming office in April, he has remained silent on the case, allowing the police to delay and wriggle out of the situation.
The Perak Crisis
In particular, Anwar pointed at the recent police raid on the DAP’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya and the string of arrests against the mostly Chinese protesters over the Perak crisis.
“Umno is trying to demonstrate that it can wield its power at will against the non-Malays. Malays should be ashamed of this,” he told a crowd of most Malays at a political lecture.
“The Malay populace should only revere a Malay leadership which has earned respect from non-Malays through its goodwill, not from abusing its power and acting unjustly.”
Since Najib personally hatched the unpopular power grab in Perak, police have made 157 arrests directly related to the turmoil in state.
This exceeds the 106 detentions made by the police under the notorious Operations Lalang, a swoop launched by ex-PM Mahathir Mohamad in 1987. Like Najib, Mahathir had also used racial dissent as an excuse to consolidate his grip on power.
Anwar also accused Najib of racial and political hypocrisy. While Najib went around inviting the Chinese and Indians to be a part of his 1Malaysia, he was at the same time getting his cousin and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to arrest and pick on both ethnic groups.
“Is this the leadership that the Malays want? A true Malay Muslim citizen should reject such leadership,” asked Anwar.
SK
29/05/09
The reform icon said this was evident in the way Najib had not bothered to chase up on the murder of Kugan Ananthan, a 22-year old car thief suspect who was tortured to death by the police while in remand.
Najib, who at that time was PM-in-waiting, had intervened by getting the Attorney-General to re-classify the case as murder. However, since assuming office in April, he has remained silent on the case, allowing the police to delay and wriggle out of the situation.
The Perak Crisis
In particular, Anwar pointed at the recent police raid on the DAP’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya and the string of arrests against the mostly Chinese protesters over the Perak crisis.
“Umno is trying to demonstrate that it can wield its power at will against the non-Malays. Malays should be ashamed of this,” he told a crowd of most Malays at a political lecture.
“The Malay populace should only revere a Malay leadership which has earned respect from non-Malays through its goodwill, not from abusing its power and acting unjustly.”
Since Najib personally hatched the unpopular power grab in Perak, police have made 157 arrests directly related to the turmoil in state.
This exceeds the 106 detentions made by the police under the notorious Operations Lalang, a swoop launched by ex-PM Mahathir Mohamad in 1987. Like Najib, Mahathir had also used racial dissent as an excuse to consolidate his grip on power.
Anwar also accused Najib of racial and political hypocrisy. While Najib went around inviting the Chinese and Indians to be a part of his 1Malaysia, he was at the same time getting his cousin and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to arrest and pick on both ethnic groups.
“Is this the leadership that the Malays want? A true Malay Muslim citizen should reject such leadership,” asked Anwar.
SK
29/05/09
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