A group of 10 youths who wanted to hand over a memorandum to Prime Minister Najib Razak regarding the Bersih 2.0 electoral reforms were unceremoniously arrested by the police just before his arrival at the KL Sentral public transportation hub.
No reasons were given but a few in the group wore the taboo colour - yellow!
"One of us was wearing a Malaysian jersey and I myself was wearing the 'Patriot' colour of red when we were arrested," Fareez Kamal Intidzam, who is also the aide to Ampang MP Zuraida Kamarauddin, said.
Among the 10 were PKR Youth leaders Zaki, Zulfikar, Sachi and Rozan. They were all detained at Jalan Travers police station.
Jekyll and Hyde
Meanwhile, PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Akin slammed the prime minister for the high-handed move.
"They may be Pakatan Rakyat members in the group but is Najib trying to say they are not Malaysians and only BN members are Malaysians. This is a total disappointment to his pledge when took he over of allowing greater democratic space. Under him, Malaysia is now at its most repressive. It is a real switch," Shamsul told Malaysia Chronicle.
Indeed, many have accused Najib of a Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. In April 2009, when he took over as the 6th prime minister, he promised unity and reforms.
But he has since backpedalled, with his administration recently drawing rebuke from the UN, US and international human rights groups such as Amnesty International. One of the foreign NGOs even likenened his government to being a "banana republic".
His blatant disregard for his own words and unabashed practice of sending starkly different messages to different racial groups have made him the most unpopular leader now.
Just two days ago, fed-up Malaysians did not bother to hide their contempt when they plastered the words Diam Lah! or Shaddup! all over his Facebook wall when he tried to explain his excessive police crackdown on the July 9 Bersih ralliers. Najib is against Bersih, insisting there is nothing wrong with the existing electoral system. Earlier this month, he even outlawed Bersih.
His critics have now begun a Diam Lar! Facebook page to censure him each he overdoes the hypocrisy in his rhetoric.
As of press time, the 10 are still in the police lock-up. Najib and several cabinet ministers were on the Express Rail Link, heading from Putrajaya to KL Sentral to distribute the Jalur Gemilang or Malaysian flag in a run-up to the national day celebrations on August 31.
- Malaysia Chronicle
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