Zaid wants more forums to defeat ‘rogue leaders’

Calling those behind chaos at Nothing to Hide forum as 'rogues who have everything to hide', Zaid Ibrahim says PH leaders must present alternative style of leadership.

PETALING JAYA: Zaid Ibrahim says Pakatan Harapan leaders should hold more Nothing to Hide forums following the event held on Sunday, despite the event going awry after some youths decided to throw objects and projectiles on stage.

The former minister said that would be the best way to defeat the “rogues who have everything to hide”.

“We should not be cowed. I urge the Parliamentary opposition to continue having such Nothing to Hide meetings.

“However, other leaders from Pakatan Harapan must participate in the “Nothing to Hide” gatherings. They must emulate Dr Mahathir Mohamad and not be afraid to answer all kinds of difficult questions,” Zaid said in a posting on his blog today.

He added that these PH leaders must also be willing to be open and transparent.

“The people of Malaysia will be happy to have an alternative style of leadership.”

Relating his experience at the forum held at the Dewan Raja Muda Musa in Shah Alam, Zaid said it was quite frightening.

“When the flares were thrown from the back of the hall and bottles were flying towards Mahathir, I thought some people were going to harm him.

“It crossed my mind that they might even burn down the hall. I rushed to a side door but it was locked from the outside. Someone was frantically kicking the door but we couldn’t open it,” he said, adding he was relieved to then exit the hall by the back door.

Zaid, who joined DAP earlier this year, chided the response from the police soon after incident was contained.

“The initial reaction of the police was to say that they needed to talk to the organisers for what one of the officers described as ‘a security breach’. This is absolutely shocking.

“Whatever the organisers may or may not have done, the first thing the police should do is to go after the troublemakers.

“That’s what they should have said. But we live in a rogue culture. The nation’s leaders behave like rogues and feel very proud of having such traits,” he said.

He also brought up the past incident involving a group of men, said to be Umno members from Pasir Salak, who came to the Parliament building compound and attempted to assault Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.

“Our young ‘political operatives’ are trained to behave like thugs, disturb meetings and march to Parliament to assault MPs.

“Our police seem reluctant to come down hard on such behaviour maybe because they think it’s the kind of thing approved by the top.

“A magistrate imposed a token fine on the person who assaulted MP Khalid, but in other more civilised countries, the perpetrator would have been handed a deterrent sentence,” Zaid said, adding that magistrates must take cognisance of this rising roguish culture.

In a parting shot, Zaid made a special plea to all politicians, saying this rogue attitude must stop.

“Let’s put a stop to this and start treating Malaysians with respect. Let’s give them the right information and the right perspectives. Malaysians are smarter than what politicians might think.” - FMT