Kit Siang challenges Najib to call snap election

DAP veteran says PM can test whether Citizens' Declaration represents views of a majority of Malaysians.

PETALING JAYA: The DAP’s Lim Kit Siang has issued a challenge to Barisan Nasional (BN) leader Najib Razak to call a snap general election as a test of whether last week’s Citizens’ Declaration represented the views of most Malaysians.

Lim issued the challenge after reading news reports that Najib had stated that the Citizens’ Declaration did not represent the majority view, and that it only promoted the agenda of a select few.

Lim’s challenge was made in a speech in Merbok, Kedah, at a party event.

Just hours earlier, at a dialogue in Sungai Petani, he had declared his readiness to work with any Malaysian, including Najib, “if the Prime Minister is prepared to admit that he had led the country on a wrong tangent and that Malaysia must be saved with far-reaching democratic and institutional reforms.”

Later in the evening, at a third party event in Kuala Kedah, Lim said Najib could not be more wrong about the declaration, and that his remark showed he as prime minister, was cut off from feelings on the ground.

The 37-paragraph declaration, an initiative of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, was adopted by 45 politicians, most of them from Opposition parties, and a few civil society members. It calls for Najib’s removal as prime minister, and the bulk of the document lists out various allegations about 1Malaysia Development Bhd, with one paragraph calling for reforms of the country’s institutions.

He said that Najib’s boast of having the majority support of Malaysians flew against the face of political reality, as the BN had won only 47 per cent of the popular vote at the 2013 General Election.

Lim, who is DAP parliamentary leader and MP for Gelang Patah, has been suspended from Parliament for six months. In Merbok earlier, he said he had visited 87 parliamentary constituencies so far and was willing to visit more than half of Malaysia’s 222 parliamentary constituencies “to feel the pulse of the people” about Najib and also “the public mood on how to Save Malaysia.”