"Bitchy" Nazri takes revenge on Ambiga for exposing Najib's dark hand in Bersih

Fresh from a tongue-lashing for insisting that it would be dangerous for Cabinet ministers and their families to declare their assets as suggested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz committed his second boo-boo of the day when he warned free and fair polls movement Bersih not to stage any more rallies.

The "bitchy" manner in which he attacked Bersih chairman Ambiga Sreenevasa, who a day ago revealed that it was Prime Minister Najib Razak who endorsed the threats against her safety, also indicated he was out to get revenge for his boss.

“She is a nobody. She got no locus standi. She is not elected. I can’t even attack her as she is a nobody. If I do that it would not look good for me as a minister. It looks like I am bullying her,” Nazri told a press conference on Thursday.

He also called Ambiga a “wannabe nobody start-up”, while defending the Election Commission - long and widely known to be the Umno's stooge - as being fair and independent, and did not need to observe any recommendations to implement any electoral reforms whatsoever - even from Parliament itself.

“The EC is independent, from the executive as well as the legislative or anyone else,” Nazri insisted, prompting talk that Najib and Umno would soon find ways to back off from implementing the recent hard-won use of indelible ink.

No change, no progress: Anti-democracy, pro-corruption

Nazri's stance is little different than that adopted by Najib towards the July 9, 2011 Bersih 2.0 rally. Then Najib, in a complete about-turn to his previous preaching about the need for moderation, had turned extremist towards Bersih supporters, calling them threats to national security, Islam and the King.

Groups linked to Najib's Umno-party even threatened to rape Ambiga and to strip her of her citizenship should she not toe Najib's line. Ambiga told the Malaysian Human Rights Commission that she had to hire a bodyguard as a result of the attacks.

Nazri has a reputation for being Najib's attacker dog because of his often wild and crude repartee. His shocking tirade against Ambiga and his rejection of anti-corruption and pro-democracy reforms sparked anger.

"This shows that nothing has changed. It is just fine talk, grand speeches to pull wool over the people's eyes. But Najib is the same old Najib and Umno is the same old Umno. All talk and no action, all hypocrisy and no sincerity," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

Asking for Bersih 3.0

Jui Meng and the Pakatan Rakyat opposition are not the only ones who have noticed the lack of real progress by the Najib administration in finalising electoral reforms. Despite the huge amount of publicity it created to show it was working to clean up the country's notoriously rigged and corrupt electoral process, little real achievement has been made.

Last week, ex-US envoy John Malott expressed shock at the lack of progress, warning that Malaysians should not expect a better quality of life if Umno refused to accept free and fair polls. A "strong" democracy needed clean elections, he warned.

Meanwhile, Ambiga and Bersih have announced that a Parliamentary Select Committee set up by Najib to look into electoral reforms have only approved 4 out of 41 recommendations, a shockingly low proportion by any standards.

Calls are now growing for a Bersih 3.0 rally given Najib's open defiance of the people's wishes. More than 50,000 Malaysians took to the streets in the July 9 Bersih 2.0 demonstration. The number is expected to easily double at Bersih 3.0 despite a new oppressive law pushed through by Najib to prevent Malaysians from peaceful assembly to express their viewpoints and wishes.

"You go to the streets, then you face the law. They do not have any business to go to the streets. We have a system of elected representatives that represent the rakyat. A system to go through if you want to improve things. If they want to influence change, they should use the system," warned Nazri.

The real nobody: An MP listens to the people not his boss

In his comments, Nazri also completely ignored that to most people in the world, he - Nazri Aziz - was the real nobody while Ambiga was the recipient of the US Women of Courage and the French Knight of the Legion of Honour,  two tremendously prestigious awards.

“Who are they? They are nobody. Who are the NGOs supporting them? I don’t know them. They just represent, what, 50, 100, 200 people.They said 50,000 came (to the Bersih 2.0 rally). What is that compared to the representatives like me, elected by the rakyat? We represent the people as an elected government," he said.

But by being the member of Parliament for Rengas, pundits say that it was all the more reason for Nazri to listen to the wishes of the people and not try to help his boss cling to power by spewing a barrage of lies and "rubbish" comments.

"It is beyond rudeness. I think it hit a raw nerve because here is Najib talking high and mighty at the Global Movement for Moderates and yet Ambiga is telling the world, this guy is dangerous; he cannot be trusted. The only way to punish these guys is at the polls. Najib and Nazri must be taught they will not be tolerated by civil society. Compare them against Ambiga and see how small these two so-called Umno leaders really are - you can judge just by their speech and action," slammed Jui Meng.

Malaysia Chronicle