Najib blames Pakatan for forcing his hand on Bersih, Jeyakumar

After unleashing a slew of outlandish accusations, scores of arrests for wearing yellow T-shirts and the use of an oppressive law to jail a Member of Parliament for suspected communism, Prime Minister Najib Razak is now blaming it on his political rivals, the Pakatan Rakyat led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The 58-year old UMNO president, who has been accused of resorting to Machiavellian measures to cling to power, also said his BN government could not "allow too much freedom".

"They will use the international media to portray the Malaysian government in a negative light if they provoke us to the extent that we are forced to use something which they can then interpret as being cruel to them," Bernama reported Najib as saying on Sunday.

"There are conditions to the freedom to assemble because we must protect peace and public order, the country will be heading towards anarchy and uncertainties which will not benefit anybody if we allow too much freedom."

Fears of a reformist wave

However, most Malaysians believe it was the Najib administration that was the aggressor in trying to stamp out a citizens' march for free and fair elections scheduled for July 9.

Accusations are rife that Najib fears the reformist undertone of the march, which aims to petition the King to implement 8 electoral reforms before the next general election is held.

The ruling elite in UMNO - long accused of unbridled corruption - are worried that the rally might later trigger a people's uprising, especially amongst the Malays, the traditional electoral base for their party. This could end their 5-decades of political hegemony and result in a global hunt for the wealth they have been accused of stashing overseas over the years.

No surprise then that a crackdown was quickly launched and has drawn sharp rebuke. However, Najib is unlikely to hold his hand, given that he has already gone so far.

Worse to come

In the next few days, Malaysians are bracing for more high-profile arrests, with the UMNO-owned Utusan newspaper calling for Anwar, Bersih chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan and PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu to be detained under the Emergency Ordinance Act.

The EO is similar to the oppressive Internal Security Act, allowing Najib to detain political rivals and civilians without trial for indefinite periods of time. On Saturday, Sungai Siput MP Michael Jeyakumar and 5 other members of the minnow Party Sosialis Malaysia were rearrested under the EO.

They were part of a group of 30, travelling to Penang to promote the Bersih rally, but their bus was stopped and they were arrested for 'rekindling' Communism. The Penang police chief adduced this based on the T-shirts sporting images of Marxist hero Che Guevara that some of them wore.

Two foreigner observers, a 24-year old South Korean university student and a 56-year Filipino political activist who were observing the PSM activites, were also arrested. One has been deported and the BN has created further furore by warning that "major powers" were out to take over the Malaysian government.

In the face of such outlandish accusations, trumped only by the UMNO Datuk T sex video conspiracy and the Sodomy II trial brought against Anwar, Malaysians have been left stumped at the way Najib pursued power. He has been slammed for irresponsibility and criticised as being the worst PM in Malaysian history.

Not me

Nonethless on Sunday, a day after announcing another unpopular move of banning the Bersih coalition for free and fair elections, Najib insisted he had acted to prevent more serious incidents from taking place.

"This is a preventive measure, prevention is better than cure, what the police do is to prevent something more serious from taking place," said Najib, who took over the top job in April 2009 from Abdullah Badawi.

"Some people want us to use whatever power at our disposal but I believe the police understand all the implications when they want to take any action, what is important is that any action must have the support of the people."

He also insisted that it was unnamed quarters that was trying to give the impression that the government was autocratic, dictatorial and not liberal because it rejected what they wanted to do.

However, Anwar, has condemned Najib and the BN government for rough-neck tactics.

"As Opposition Leader of the Malaysian Parliament, I condemn the detention of Michael Jeyakumar under the Emergency Ordinance as he is a elected representative of the people and he was just doing his duty of speaking out on behalf of the people who want free and fair elections," Anwar said in a statement.

- Malaysia Chronicle