Malaysiakini – 1 hour 9 minutes ago
Should the pro-electoral reform group Bersih take to the streets yet again, it will face the music, de facto law minister Nazri Aziz warns.
"You go to the streets, then you face the law," Nazri said at a press conference in Putrajaya today.
He was responding to news reports that the outlawed NGO, dissatisfied with the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms for not picking up all the eight reforms it suggested, may hold a repeat performance of its previous Bersih and Bersih 2.0 mass rallies, held in 2008 and last July respectively.
Chiding the NGO for such tactics, Nazri added that if it wanted to see reforms carried out, it should use the proper channels.
“They do not have any business to go to the streets.
“We have a system of elected representatives that represent the rakyat. A system to go through if you want to improve things.
“If they want to influence change, they should use the system,” Nazri added.
He also questioned the locus standi of Bersih and its chief S Ambiga ( left ) to represent anyone in their clamour for electoral reforms.
“Who are they? They are nobody... Who are the NGOs supporting them? I don’t know them. They just represent, what, 50, 100, 200 people...?
“They said 50,000 came (to the Bersih 2.0 rally). What is that compared to the representatives like me, elected by the rakyat?
“We represent the people as an elected government,” argued the Padang Rengas MP.
‘Ambiga a nobody’
Nazri also accused Ambiga of being a “wannabe, nobody, start-up” who only wanted to win a candidacy in the next general election and was beneath his attention as a full federal minister.
“She is a nobody. She's got no locus standi... she is not elected.
“I can’t even attack her as she is a nobody. If I do that it would not look good for me as a minister. It looks like I am bullying her,” Nazri sniped.
He added that there was no obligation for the PSC to take all of Bersih’s suggestions for the movement to feel slighted, just as there was no obligation on the Election Commission (EC) to implement all of PSC’s recommendations.
“The EC is independent, from the executive as well as the legislative or anyone else,” Nazri reasoned.
Asked about the acquittal of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in his recent Sodomy II trial and whether the government would appeal, Nazri refused to comment, saying that it wa up to attorney-general (AG) Gani Patail and the government should not interfere.
“According to the constitution, the AG can appeal. And we must also ensure that Saiful Bukhari Azlan (Anwar’s accuser) has the opportunity to seek justice. These, I believe, should be the two considerations on the appeal,” he opined.
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