Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah (centre) speaks during a press conference at the group’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, today. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Seth Akmal, July 29, 2015.
Its chairman, Maria Chin Abdullah, said the rally – to be held Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu – would also demand for institutional reforms to end "prime ministerial corruptions" which it said had begun since the time of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"All Malaysians are now paying a huge price for the RM42 billion scandal of 1MDB among other incidences of corruption, leakage and mismanagement.
"We invite all patriotic Malaysians to join the rally to demand for Najib to step down and the institutional reforms to be implemented so as to end prime-ministerial corruption," she said.
Maria, speaking at a press conference in Petaling Jaya today, said Najib was covering up alleged corruption and had crushed the people's hopes for justice and integrity.
"Najib is taking every possible move to protect corruption. He arrogantly ignores the humble wish of Malaysians for integrity and justice. He has lost every ounce of legitimacy to stay in office," she said.
Dubbed the "Bersih 4" rally, the coming demonstration will be the movement's fourth. Its earlier rallies in 2007, 2011 and 2012 were to press for electoral reform.
Maria noted recent "political moves" by Najib which "virtually ruled out all possibilities for truth on the 1MDB scandal to be unearthed and criminals to be brought to justice".
These were changes to the cabinet as announced by Najib yesterday, as well as the removal of Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.
She said replacing Gani, while he was in the midst of probing 1MDB as a member of a special government task force, was "meant as a warning signal to the other three agencies" in the team.
She added that Gani's removal was being rejected or questioned by many parties who had doubts over its constitutionality.
Another move to prevent the truth about 1MDB from being uncovered, Maria added, was the "co-optation" of four members of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) by promoting them into the government administration.
"As PAC members cannot be holding executive positions, these appointments are Najib's unscrupulous plot to disable PAC, the only other public institution which is pursuing the 1MDB scandal with the support of the Auditor General's Office."
Maria also said Najib was concentrating power in himself by appointing Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as deputy prime minister, noting that Zahid had just ordered the suspensions of The Edge publications for exposes on the 1MDB scandal.
"That Najib and Zahid simultaneously hold two powerful ministries of Finance and Home Affairs depletes any hope of independent investigations without more attempts to cover up corruption and silence critics," she said.
- TMI
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