Blaming rallies for drop in global peace rating is ‘deceitful’

PKR’s Nik Nazmi says Home Minister is wrong to blame the Opposition as it is weak governance, corruption and crime that are the real reasons.

PETALING JAYA: Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was being “deceitful” when he blamed demonstrations organised by the Opposition as the main reason why Malaysia dropped in rankings in the Global Peace Index of 2014, said PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

In a statement today, the youth leader said, “To put the blame squarely on the demonstrations, which in any case were largely peaceful, is deceitful.”

He also described as “ingenious” that Zahid had singled out #KitaLawan, Gerakan Hapuskan Akta Hasutan, Anti-Lynas and Perhimpunan Aman Mahasiswa when some were not even active until this year and therefore could not have been taken into consideration last year when the rankings were determined.

He said Zahid also “missed the point” of the entire report which spanned seven years and took into account terrorist activity, the homicide rate, likelihood of violent demonstrations, levels of organised conflict and perceptions of criminality.

“The report after all mentioned that Malaysia saw a worsening of terrorist activity and political instability,” he said, adding that terrorism was the “more primal factor” that led to the low ranking besides the country’s rising crime rate as reported by Pemandu in 2013.

“Even a cursory reading of the report will also make clear that among the three broad indicators, ‘Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict’, ‘Societal Safety and Security’ and ‘Militarisation’, Malaysia scored worst in the last two categories.”

He further argued that “Society Safety and Security”, which represented the country’s worst index was strongly linked to “governance, a sound business environment and corruption” and added, “Perhaps the government would do well to focus on improving itself in the eight Pillars of Peace rather than blame its own citizens, who were merely exercising their inherent rights.”