'Najib's fear of losing power causing despair for M'sia's future'

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's fear of losing power has posed a 'far more dangerous situation' than previous administrations. This has caused people to despair for the future.

This was according to National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president Ambiga Sreenevasan today at a book launch for 'Malaysia Post-Mahathir: A Decade of Change?', a compilation of articles written by eight scholars.

"People are more depressed than 10 years ago. Everywhere I go, I get people coming to me and asking what's going on with this country.

"The reason is, that fear of losing power which is present today, has contributed to the toxicity of the present situation and has made it far more dangerous than in previous years.

"I say dangerous in the sense of the future, whether it can be assured under the present administration," she said.

From the economic aspect, she asserted that the gap between the poor and rich is getting wider.

“The government's solution to this problem has made the people more dependent on it by giving handouts like 1Malaysia people's aid (BR1M) instead of empowering the people,” she said.

According to her, Najib, who had earlier released a few detainees of the Internal Security Act (ISA), has now resorted to the old oppressive ways as a convenient tool against his political opponents.

She said Najib and his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi started out well but eventually turned to oppression.

She made the speech to compare the nation under Mahathir and post-Mahathir.

[More to follow]