PM Najib: Don’t embarrass Malaysia by calling in foreign election monitors

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 – Those with allegations of unfair elections should not embarrass Malaysia by asking foreign countries to “interfere” in the country’s polls process, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.

He said that they should show proof of their allegations so that it can be corrected if proven true.

“If there’s 12-year-olds in the electoral roll, show proof, we correct it.

“Don’t ask foreign countries to interfere.

“Don’t embarass our country ...” Najib (picture) said in a speech at the Barisan 1 Malaysia gathering at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) today.

Najib, who is also chairman of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition had earlier contrasted Malaysia’s election process with the US’, saying that the world superpower too had faced problems in their election process, such as slow release of polls results and voters’ names missing from the electoral roll at their voting stations.

“But they didn’t say there’s a big lie, not sah (legit) that President Obama won. They accept,” Najib said, referring to the Americans.

Najib also said that Malaysia does not need an “Arab Spring”, saying that a change of government should be through elections.

He said the popular revolt that saw a regime change in several Middle East nations last year, such as in Egypt and Libya, had happened because of “oppression”, high unemployment rate of 30 to 40 per cent, and the people had “no hope”.

But Malaysians have “hope” in the future, the PM said.

“Why fix when it’s not broken?” he said, adding that Malaysia is the “envy” of many countries.

Before speaking on the Arab Spring, Najib said a peaceful assembly is to be preferred over a riot, appearing to allude to the electoral reform movement Bersih 2.0.

“Peaceful assembly, what’s wrong (with that)? Better than having a riot.”

“We give peaceful assembly, they want to overturn cars. Does it make sense?” he said, likely referring to an incident in this year’s sit-in protest by electoral reform group Bersih 2.0.

But Bersih’s co-chair, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, told US broadcast network CNN in a recent interview that the watchdog does not want to create an Arab Spring.

She said that they only want to push for a clean and fair election process.

More to come