BANGKIT LAH! Azmin calls on M'sians: Don't let Najib arrest Anwar & make a mockery of Lahad Datu

UPDATE 2 PKR deputy president Azmin Ali confirmed that his party was concerned their adviser, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, might be arrested and made a scapegoat by Prime Minister Najib Razak's government for the failure and high loss of lives in an ongoing security operation to flush out armed militants in Lahad Datu, Sabah.

"This (arresting Anwar) is not something new. Only this time we ask the people to rise up - bangkit lah - and give a strong warning to the government - don't play politics with national security," Azmin told a press conference on Tuesday.

Later on the sidelines of the conference, Azmin told Malaysia Chronicle it was clear from the massive public support for the Bersih movement for free and fair polls that Malaysians wanted a clean election.

The people would not tolerate any conspiracies that might be hatched "in the last mile" by the ruling Umno-BN coalition to cling to power, he added. He was confident that Umno-BN could no longer resort to strong-arm tactic to quell the opposition as it had done in the past.

"For 15 years we have lived under the shadow of fear so much so we are no longer afraid. We are very confident the people will not allow themselves to be deceived by such atrocious politicking. This is the ultimate in the Umno-BN's politics of dishonesty and deceit," said Azmin.

Azmin called up by MCMC over Sabah RCI

He pointed out that he had been called to lodge his statement with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission in Cyberjaya at 2pm.

"My lawyers called the MCMC and we were told it is related to the Sabah RCI. Exactly how, we will have to wait and see. To us, what is clear is an overall  concerted effort to go after the PKR and Pakatan Rakyat leaders," said Azmin.

At a press conference in January, Azmin who is also the Gombak MP, had branded former premier Mahathir Mohamad a "traitor" over the alleged citizenship-for-votes project in Sabah state.

The Project I.C. or Project M (for Mahathir) has been condemned by Sabahans for decades. They blame it for the surge in population that has shrunk their economic pie and reduced their living standards.

The instability arising from the invasion of a small village in Lahad Datu by armed foreign gunmen and the consequent revenge killings have also been attributed to Project M.

Many Sabahans say the scheme had allowed hundreds of thousands of illegal workers of Filipino and Indonesian descent to live in Malaysia although the loyalties of some were still with their country of birth.

Key witnesses at a Royal Commission of Inquiry held to probe the Project M had testified that the orders to offer citizenship had come from Mahathir's aides.

“We truly understand this represents a planned effort headed by the then prime minister (left), and to me he is a traitor to the country for given identity cards (IC) to foreigners just to shore up Umno’s political power,” Malaysiakinihad reported Azmin as saying.

The only way - vote out Umno at GE13

Meanwhile, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli, who first revealed the Opposition's concern of an Anwar arrest to Malaysia Chronicle, denounced the Umno-led government for using the MCMC to pressure PR leaders.

"While it is the MCMC's right to question or initiate action, the double standard is too obvious. The MCMC should focus on facilitating a free and fast Malaysian cyberspace that is not entangled or used as yet another tool for oppression although the fault lies with Umno, which continuously exerts pressure on MCMC to sabotage the Opposition leaders," Rafizi told Malaysia Chronicle.

"While I have issues with the MCMC's inability to stand independently, getting rid of Umno is the only way to fix this."

Malaysia Chronicle