Does Najib know what democracy means? - John Malott

When he was in London, Prime Minister Najib met with the international press corps and showed that he really doesn't understand what democracy means.

Here is what he said, as reported in the New York Times:

Malaysian Prime Minister Defends Muzzling of Protests

LONDON — If the Malaysian government allowed street demonstrations of the kind seen in Kuala Lumpur last weekend, the country would face protracted instability, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Wednesday.

Mr. Najib spoke after thousands of advocates of electoral change defied a government ban and held a large street protest Saturday, during which the police fired tear gas and water cannons and arrested nearly 1,700 demonstrators.

“Public order is very important in Malaysia because if we allow for street demonstrations, there’s no end to it, there will be another group that wants to demonstrate,” Mr. Najib told a small group of international reporters Wednesday in London, where he was to meet the British prime minister and attend an investment conference.

If protests are not controlled, “you will get a situation in which more and more of these street demonstrations will take place in Malaysia,” he said.

That's it? Najib says that If we allow people to exercise their constitutional right to freedom of assembly, they might actually come together and assemble freely? That if we allow them their freedom of speech, they might actually speak freely?

Is that a bad thing? What is wrong with that?

Bizarre

My dear Prime Minister, that is what democracy is all about.

True democracies have demonstrations all the time -- in America, Australia, Japan, France, England, Germany, and so on and so on.

Those demonstrations are not seen as a threat to public order or national security. We don't lock down the city, or tear gas our fellow citizens or beat them simply because they disagree with us.

True democracies allow their citizens to speak freely.

When Najib met the international press corps in London, he said, in effect , "If we act like a democracy, we might end up becoming a democracy."

And that is bad?

I do not think the international press corps in London had any sympathy for Najib's statements. Rather, they found the whole thing very bizarre, like something out of the 19th century. And that is why his comments were reported in the New York Times.

Another self-inflicted black eye for Najib.

- Malaysia Chronicle