Govt’s soft approach exploited, says Hisham

PUTRAJAYA - The Government’s initial “soft” approach towards Bersih 2.0 had been exploited by those with political agendas, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said the whole thing was exploited by people who had ulterior motives.

The Government, he said, had always upheld civil liberty and had been accommodating with the organisers as they said their planned rally would not be political, but things started to change later.

“So at the very last minute we thought that we could not take any chances.

“We did not want to take the risk of the whole scenario changing and becoming racial or religious,” he said here yesterday.

Hishammuddin said that was also why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had offered the organisers a stadium venue for their rally, an offer that was never withdrawn.

“But when you are dealing with people with political agendas, in whatever they do they will keep shifting the goal posts.

“If you offer a stadium, they would want a stadium in the middle of the city and they will want to parade all the way there,” he said.

Hishammuddin said it was the same with the Government’s plan to use biometrics for the identification of voters in the coming general election, which the Opposition had objected to.

Now, he said, they wanted the use of indelible ink.

“When we planned to have the Parlia¬mentary Select Committee address all their demands, they said they would not even go unless we extended the campaign period.

“A lot of these arguments have political agendas. Issues can be exploited by people who have ulterior motives,” he added.

Najib is expected to make several announcements in his Malaysia Day message today, some of which were said to directly involve the Bersih rally.

- The Star