Beware the salt: Kit Siang turns the table

The DAP supremo asks if any minister has the courage to save Najib Tun Razak's face by pushing for a Cabinet apology over the Bersih 3.0 coup allegation.

PETALING JAYA: DAP strongman Lim Kit Siang has cut Nazri Abdul Aziz’s justification over the opposition coup charge into pieces and turned the table on the minister and the Cabinet.

He noted that Nazri had unwittingly confessed that there was not an iota of evidence to back the claim that Bersih 3.0 was designed to topple the government via street protest.

Furthermore, he added the minister’s remark on the dangers of mineral water bottles and salt was an admission that Barisan Nasional had lost the people’s support.

Based on this, Lim threw a challenge to ministers who would attend the weekly Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

The DAP leader asked if any of them had the courage to urge the Cabinet to apologise over Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s claim, which Lim deemed reckless and wild, that the April 28 rally was an attempt by the opposition to overthrow the government.

Calling on them to rescue their boss’ pride, Lim said the ministers must assume collective responsibility and apologise on Najib’s behalf.

“The question is if there is any minister from Umno, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, Sabah or Sarawak who dare ask the Cabinet to apologise for the prime minister’s wild and baseless allegation.

“Or will former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad be proven right that Cabinet ministers are no better than ‘half-past six’ ministers?” he added.

Yesterday, Nazri had argued in Parliament that the April 28 rally was in fact an attempt to topple the government, earning a rebuke from Lim, who is also the Ipoh Timor MP.

Lim had dismissed this as a baseless accusation and questioned the minister how it was possible to stage a coup with mineral water bottles and packets of salt, which protesters brought to ward off the effects of tear gas.

Responding, Nazri claimed that the threat posed by mineral water bottles and salt packets should not be underestimated, noting that the Arab Spring gained momentum through mobile phones and unpopular leaders were shown the exit.

Does Najib have his own SB?

In view of Nazri’s remarks, Lim listed three things for the Cabinet to do tomorrow.

Firstly, he wanted the Cabinet to establish who was responsible for feeding Najib with the inaccurate information that it was a coup attempt.

“Former IGP Hanif Omar, who gave immediate support to Najib’s allegation, told the media that the prime minister must have received intelligence from the Special Branch.

“But this has been denied by IGP Ismail Omar who said two days later that the police were investigating the prime minister’s allegation.

“This is coming to a full circle. If Najib was briefed by the Special Branch resulting in his allegation, why was the IGP talking about investigating Najib’s allegation two days later?” he asked.

Noting that “something was not right”, Lim wondered if the prime minister had his own Special Branch to provide him with such information, of which the IGP was in the dark about.

Fear of salt and water bottles

Secondly, the DAP leader said, the Cabinet must face the reality that the government was afraid of salt and plastic mineral water bottles.

“In reply to my rejoinder [in Parliament] whether BN was so fragile that it could be toppled with salt and mineral water bottles, Nazri said salt and water bottles should not be underrated as they could topple governments which had lost the support of the people.

“The Cabinet should discuss at length the wisdom of Nazri’s admission,” he added.

The real issue, Lim pointed out, was not salt, water bottles or mobile phones but the root cause of the government’s loss of support because of “rampant corruption, abuses of power, economic injustices, exploitation and gross violation of human rights”.

“Is the Cabinet capable of admitting and finding out why after three years of a whole spectrum of transformation policies, the Najib administration is losing out to Pakatan Rakyat in the battle for the hearts and minds of Malaysians to the extent that Najib’s ministers envisage salt, water bottles and even handphones as ‘weapons of mass destruction’ …?” he asked.

As for the third item on the list, Lim said the Cabinet must make amends by admitting that the government’s misjudgment and mishandling of the Bersih 3.0 rally was an even greater public relations disaster than its handling of the Bersih 2.0 rally last year.

He asked if the Cabinet was prepared to end the demonisation of Bersih and Pakatan leaders as well as to dissolve the independent panel tasked with probing the abuses during the rally.

Lim said the Cabinet should instead give full support to the Suhakam inquiry to ensure a credible, impartial and comprehensive probe, regardless of whether the victims were police personnel, media representatives or peaceful protesters.