Bersih fiasco: Najib Razak, be a man and step down

The Najib administration is a mess and it is right for Najib Razak to take responsibility for his fumbling that has disgraced the country and step down as Prime Minister.

But since this may be an impossible call as the UMNO elite would definitely force their hand to retain Najib as a puppet administrator for their own twisted plans, the 'resignation' of the Prime Minister can be initiated by members of Parliament.

The Federal Constitution mandates that the Prime Minister be appointed by the Agong after selecting from members of Parliament someone who in His Highness’s judgement, commands the confidence of the Parliament. The appointment of the Prime Minister is thus, the prerogative to the Agong.

Nowhere does it stipulate that the Prime Minister must come from the majority seat-holding party. This was surely the case in India, when Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was selected from the minority Singh community and interestingly, he was also the Opposition leader from 1998 - 2004. And under Prime Minister Manmohan, India has had a resurgence in its economy and industrial standing.

Does Najib command confidence

So the question should be put to the Barisan Nasional component parties? Does Najib Razak command the confidence of these parliamentarians? Are the 13 component parties in Barisan Nasional confident in the leadership skills of Najib Razak?

Component parties can force a prime minister to resign, this was evident in the case of Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who resigned in 2010 after only being in office for eight months.

And the reason for his resignation? He was unable to fulfilled his campaign promises whereby Tokyo and Washington struck a deal in 2006 that the U.S. Marine base on Okinawa would be moved from the city of Futenma to another city on the island, Henoko.

But after Hatoyama promised to get the U.S. military base off the island entirely, last week he said he would go along with the original agreement to move the base to the north of the island, angering local residents who want it off the island entirely.

The political fallout forced one of the coalition partners to quit the ruling administration.

For a progressive country like Japan, from 2006 to 2010 it has seen the resignation of four Prime Ministers for various reasons.

Malaysian politicians should be man enough to assume responsibility. Already there are calls by citizens of Malaysia for the likes of Najib Razak, Muhyiddin Yassin and Hishamuddin Hussein to take the lead and resign for their gross mishandling of the Bersih march. The Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General should also be added to the list since it was under their watch that we have seen the greatest abuse against the general public.

In the runup to the Bersih march, ‘new’ laws were drawn up by these elite few that insulted the intelligence of Malaysians all over the country. The arrests of members of the public for wearing yellow T-shirts and the evident fabrication of charges to justify the high-handed treatment of all things associated with Bersih are grounds enough to demand that heads roll.

And even now, in the aftermath of the march, the government of Malaysia is still taking the route of lying to the nation and to the global community, perhaps even more. Not a word of remorse or apology has been voiced for the death of one Bersih marcher and the thousands injured due to Najib's crackdown.

The whole UMNO propaganda machine is geared to spreading its version of the Bersih march. So gutless and uncivilized that they are, they continue to insist on hammering their will on the people, completely blind to their responsibility of upholding human rights.

Step down

It is ironic that Najib Razak paid tribute to the Egyptian uprising for democratic rule while when it came to his home-land, he chose to repress it in much the same way Hosni Mubarak also chose to repress his own people. The restrictions on the government controlled media in Egypt prompted several journalists to quit their jobs and join the protesters.

Yet, Najib and crew are holding out. No doubt, they will hold out until the 13th General Election with the hope that through the skewing of the election process - the very thing Bersih is standing up against -they can continue to hold on to power. Indeed, Najib will play this out as having won the mandate of the people to lead Malaysia for another 5 years.

Najib should take note, that the people have awoken and are determined not to extend his mandate to further repress the liberties and freedoms of Malaysians. At 10.49pm Tuesday, 168,544 people have visted and supported the 100,000 People Request Najib Tun Razak Resignation, a Facebook page created late on Saturday night by Bersih supporters in protest at the shoddy treatment meted out to them by the police and other authorities.

So, Najib Razak, be a man and step down.

- Malaysian Chronicle