‘Better Malaysia Assembly’ is for all, clarifies Nazir Razak

 

Nazir Razak and 54 other signatories have sought royal endorsement in a letter to the Conference of Rulers on Oct 28.

PETALING JAYA: Membership in the “Better Malaysia Assembly” (BMA), a proposed non-partisan platform to address institutional reforms, will be representative of Malaysian society, and not just involve those who support the proposal, former CIMB group chairman Nazir Razak has clarified.

The sponsors have sought royal endorsement from the Conference of Rulers in a letter on Oct 28, signed by Nazir and 54 others.

He said in a statement today that there were misperceptions about the BMA and the letter to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“The letter to His Majesty is a proposal for the BMA to be set up and the 55 signatories are those who have come out in support of the idea. There is no assumption that all or indeed any of them will be members of the BMA,” he said.

Nazir, who is a brother of former prime minister Najib Razak, sought to give an assurance that the selection of BMA members would be undertaken via a process involving the prime minister, the opposition leader, as well as civil society.

“This process should result in a membership that is representative of the Malaysian society,” he added.

Some prominent signatories of the proposal included former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam, former Bersih chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan, Yayasan Chow Kit co-founder Hartini Zainuddin and Undi18 co-founder Qyira Yusri.

“The signatories comprise a diverse group of prominent Malaysians of differing backgrounds, race, and views that have combined their voices on a matter of national importance.

“As much as we welcome the support of politicians and political parties for the proposal, we have been steadfast in maintaining BMA as a project independent of all political parties.”

Previously, Nazir said BMA would identify specific policies and legislative changes that lawmakers often fail to address and that the deliberation of the policies would take over 18 months or two years. They would then come up with strong recommendations for Parliament to debate and enact the necessary policy and legislative changes. - FMT