A group of former Bersih leaders today slammed PKR Youth chief Kamil Abdul Munim for calling the authorities to investigate youth-centric NGO Mandiri for allegedly being a threat to national security.
In a statement, former Bersih chairpersons Ambiga Sreenevasan and Maria Chin Abdullah, together with Mandeep Singh and Jay Jay Denis, urged Kamil to stop harassing civil society organisations.
They said his statement does not reflect the government’s “Madani” slogan and goes against PKR’s reform agenda, and reminded the political secretary to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that PKR itself began as an NGO called Adil.
“Most PKR leaders who are now ministers, deputy ministers, and even former PKR Youth chiefs had once led and worked with various NGOs.
“Those who have served in such organisations understand the reality that NGOs need to rely on grants from both local and foreign sources for research and programmes, especially since most of them do not receive government funding.
“The PKR Youth chief’s call for enforcement agencies to raid NGOs receiving foreign grants follows the same ‘playbook’ once used by Umno against Bersih.
“In fact, Umno went as far as using Sosma under the pretext of protecting national security because it feared NGOs,” they said, referring to the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act.
Their statement came in response to Kamil’s call for authorities to probe Mandiri over allegations that it received foreign funding aimed at subverting Malaysian politics.
Mandiri has denied any wrongdoing.
The former Bersih leaders also urged Kamil to follow Anwar’s example in addressing issues through explanation instead of abusing his power.
Running out of time
The Bersih steering committee also criticised Kamil and his followers, saying that they now “sounded like a broken record” by repeating the narrative used by previous governments against NGOs.
In a separate statement, the committee said the government is more keen to play politics and make enemies with civil societies rather than addressing the issues they raise.
“The Madani government prefers to make petty accusations without a strong basis.
“Rather than legislating a political donation law to govern the funding for politicians and parties, the government prefers to silence and trample on civil society organisations and NGOs that are outspoken and critical of them,” said the electoral reform group.
Bersih also pointed out several other issues that the government has yet to address, including disclosing the findings of its investigation into former MACC chief Azam Baki’s shareholdings, forming a royal commission of inquiry to investigate the alleged corporate mafia scandal, and improving the process of appointing the MACC chief commissioner, among others.
“Time is running out for the Madani government. We want to advise Kamil, as the political secretary to the prime minister and PKR Youth chief, to use the remaining time to steer the government towards executing meaningful reforms as promised in their election manifesto,” Bersih said. - Mkini
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