I'll support Najib ouster, Amanah K Kangsar candidate tells Bersih

K KANGSAR POLLS Amanah Kuala Kangsar candidate Ahmad Termizi Ramli said he will support efforts to remove Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak from power, in response to questions sent to by-election candidates by reform pressure group Bersih.

"If I am chosen as the elected representative to represent the people of Kuala Kangsar, I will support the ouster of Najib as prime minister," he said in a statement in response to the NGO's open questions.

Termizi said this is because he believes Najib has wreaked untold havoc on the nation.

"As a leader, he must be made to take responsibility on all the destruction that he has wrought, including for 1MDB, the biggest scandal to date.

"This is part of the political education that the public must be made to understand, that they should not be afraid to replace leaders who are not acting properly.

"At the same time, leaders must be taught to fear the rakyat, especially if they have done wrong," he said.

As to the question that removing Najib actually means saving BN and Umno, Termizi said he disagreed with the view as both Najib and Umno cannot be seen as two isolated actors when it comes to the destruction that Malaysia has experienced.

The destruction wreaked by Najib is because of Umno and BN's failure as political actors that are supposed to safeguard the rakyat's interests as opposed to their own.

"Najib was able to do as he pleases because Umno and BN have failed to function as they should for the rakyat as well as the Malays. Thus getting rid of Najib will not save Umno but will instead make the rakyat more bold to enact change," Termizi reasoned.

In any case, he said that whether or not Umno will survive is just a speculation but the destruction brought about by Najib is already before our very eyes which makes it imperative for us to work to set to right what is clearly wrong, instead of spending too long thinking about what-ifs.

Termizi also pledged his support for Bersih's 10 demands to see institutional reforms be enacted in Malaysia.

Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar go to the polls on June 18. -Mkini