Bersih says Dr Mahathir Mohamad should not make threats to revoke S Ambiga's citizenship.
PETALING
JAYA: Bersih wants former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to retract
his statement that the federal constitution must be amended to revoke
the citizenship of “errant lawyers” like Bar Council leaders and Bersih
co-chairperson S Ambiga.
Bersih, a coalition of non-governmental organization fighting for
free and fair elections, said Ambiga did not deserve such a comment.
“What did Ambiga do to deserve such comments. There is nothing wrong
in wanting a free and fair election. We just want for the government to
deliver what the rakyat want,” Bersih steering committee member Maria
Chin Abdullah told FMT.
Earlier today, the former prime minister said the government needed
to amend the constitution if it wanted to strip off the citizenship of
lawyers such as Ambiga who go against the government.
“To strip a person’s citizenship, you need to amend the constitution.
And to amend the constitution you need two-thirds majority in
Parliament. So, I ask that you give two-thirds majority to the BN
government,” said Dr Mahathir.
He said this in response to a question after a talk on national security and the constitution at a forum.
Mahathir was asked how the government could strip the citizenship of
errant lawyers like Bar Council leaders and Ambiga, who were persistent
in challenging the government and questioning the federal constitution.
Maria said it was very unbecoming of Mahathir to make such a statement.
“He is no better than Ibrahim Ali (Perkasa president). We want Dr
Mahathir to retract and apologise to Ambiga and the Bar Council.
“The statement is actually very racist in nature. Dr Mahathir should
not put himself so low as to want to strip people of their citizenship.
They are not terrorist or did anything to endanger the lives of fellow
Malaysians.
“We are fighting for the better Malaysia. We are trying to do good
for the country and her people…so Dr Mahathir should not use us as
political pawns to win votes for the ruling Barisan Nasional,” she said.
He said Dr Mahathir should not use race as a tool to divide and threaten Malaysians.
At
the same forum, the former Prime Minister also urged Prime Minister
Najib Tun Razak not to entertain accusations made by carpet dealer
Deepak Jaikishen, in connection with the death of Mongolian model
Altantuya Shaariibuu.
The businessman has been hurling accusation after accusation against
Najib over the last two months and has promised to expose scandals
linked to other politicians and the Prime Minister’s family members.
“I don’t think he should do anything,” Dr Mahathir said referring to Najib.
Mahathir, who holds the record as the country’s longest serving Prime
Minister todate, said Najib must be accustomed to all sorts of
accusation hurled against him.
“When you are the Prime Minister people say all sorts of things. When
I was prime minister also they accused me of corruption … I don’t have
to respond,” he said.
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