PM Najib should apologise for MPs’ call to hang Ambiga and take disciplinary action

Press Statement, 28. June 2012

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections 2.0 (BERSIH 2.0) calls on Prime Minister Najib Razak to apologise over the call by two UMNO parliamentarians to have Dato Ambiga Sreenevasan, co-chairperson of BERSIH 2.0, tried and hanged for treason.

The call to have Ambiga hung came from Sri Gading MP Mohamad Aziz at about 9.45pm on June 26 and was enthusiastically supported by Lenggong MP Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.

This was the lowest point of the hate and witchhunt campaign against BERSIH 2.0 leaders which started with burger-and-butt protests in front of Ambiga’s residence.

Mohamad Aziz’s offer today to conditionally withdraw such statement if it “hurt his friends, the Indians, MIC, PPP, and affect the spirit of understanding in Barisan Nasional (BN)” shows his thinly-veiled arrogance despite the outcry nationwide.

Aziz did not even bother to apologise to Ambiga, BERSIH 2.0 and 250,000 Malaysians who went to the street on April 28 for electoral reform. And Shamsul Anuar Nasarah did not even withdraw his support for the statement.

BERSIH 2.0 holds that what Ambiga has done is but demanding electoral reform by exercising her constitutional right to free speech and peaceful assembly. If she is guilty of treason, then the entire Steering Committee of BERSIH 2.0 and 250,000 other Malaysians are also guilty.

Unless the BN is a habitually violent party, one would expect PM Najib Razak or BN’s party whip to immediately order the two parliamentarians to withdraw the statement and to apologise to Dato Ambiga Sreenevasan, the House of Parliament and the entire nation, and to take immediate disciplinary action against the MPs concerned.

No self-respecting Prime Minister  would take such expression of hatred – which may trigger hate crime – lightly and expect to disown his coalition’s responsibility with an excuse of “personal opinion” from the BN secretary general Tengku Adnan Mansor.

PM Najib Razak can choose to do nothing and watch the hate and witchhunt campaign against BERSIH 2.0 leaders taking yet another lowest point. History will however record his irresponsible silence on this episode as another footnote to the claim that Najib is but a ‘false democrat’ by Canadian journalist Mark Mackinnon. And the Malaysian public too will make their judgement come the polling day.

Keluar Mengundi, Lawan Penipuan!

Salam Bersih!

BERSIH 2.0 Steering Committee

Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH 2.0)

The Steering Committee of BERSIH 2.0 comprises:

Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan (Co-Chairperson), Datuk A. Samad Said (Co-Chairperson), Ahmad Shukri Abdul Razab, Andrew Khoo, Arul Prakkash, Arumugam K., Awang Abdillah (Kuching), Dominic Hii (Sibu), Dr Farouk Musa, Hishamuddin Rias, Liau Kok Fah, Mark Bujang (Miri), Maria Chin Abdullah, Niloh Ason (Kuching), Richard Y W Yeoh, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Yeo Yang Poh and Zaid Kamaruddin.