Kit Siang: Cabinet should apologise over coup claims

The cabinet should apologise as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz has as good as admitted that no evidence exist to prove claims that the Bersih 3.0 rally was a coup attempt, said DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang in a press release today.

The veteran DAP leader was referring to Nazri’s response to a question from Lim in Parliament yesterday, where the minister told the Dewan Rakyat that Bersih supporters could have toppled the government with “salt and water bottles”.

Lim had described Nazri’s answer as a “total disappointment” as there was no attempt to back up the claims against Bersih.

The Ipoh Timor MP urged the cabinet to take responsibility for the coup claims, which began last month when Prime Minister Najib Razak cast the April 28 electoral reform rally as an attempt to topple the government.

“The cabinet ministers must come to the rescue of the prime minister to save his face by assuming collective responsibility and making an open apology on behalf of the prime minister,” he said today.

He also outlined three steps the cabinet should take with regard to the issue, the first being to establish where Najib had obtained the information to claim that the rally was a coup attempt.

“This is coming to a full circle - if Najib had been briefed by the Special Branch resulting in his allegation in Gua Musang, why was the IGP talking about  the police investigating Najib’s allegation two days later in Kulim?” he asked, echoing a previous statement he made last month.

The cabinet should also admit that the salt and water bottles brought by protesters to the rally were meant to protect against tear gas and were not “offensive weapons”, he added.

Lastly, the cabinet must “make amends” by admitting to the government’s worse mishandling of the Bersih 3.0 rally over the Bersih 2.0 rally.

He also dared them again to dissolve the independent advisory panel headed by former inspector-general of police Hanif Omar and instead fully support the Suhakam inquiry into the rally.

Critics have pointed out that Hanif is not fit to lead the inquiry because he has taken a stand against Bersih after the rally.