Zaid: Those who oppose PM have right to express views

Those who oppose Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak have as much right to express their views as those who support him, said former law minister Zaid Ibrahim.

He said that no sane person would want to remove the prime minister by any other means except as permitted under the law.

“Demanding that the prime minister step down due to some serious dereliction of duty is not the same as asking for his removal by unconstitutional means,” Zaid said in his blog post today.

If people cannot appreciate the right of a person, who opposes the prime minister, to express his or her view, Zaid said people are therefore “sowing the seeds of destruction for democracy in the country”.

“And it’s not just democracy that might die an early death. I fear that we will face the total destruction of the country itself,” he said.

Citing Syria, Zaid remembers the country as a once prosperous and peaceful one. Boasting the best education and medical facilities in the Arab world, it however had one problem – it was ruled by the Shiite Alawite family of Bashar al-Assad.

Bashar, however, lost the support of the people of Syria partly due to the predominance of Arab Sunnis who were opposed to Shi'ite rule.

“If Bashar had allowed for a peaceful transition to democracy when his father Hafez al-Assad died many years ago, Syria might have remained beautiful and peaceful today.

“If we love our country, then we must not create a situation where people think they have to kill one another because they have no choice. We must not do what Syria has done,” said Zaid.

Malaysians, he added, must be allowed the choice of who they want to govern them.

“Those in power must learn to govern with the consent of the people, and even if they lose power, they can always win again in the next election.

“That’s the only sensible way forward for Malaysia. However, if we have the Bashar mentality such that we cannot allow anyone to rule other than those from our own group (whatever that group might be), then God help us all.”

Zaid, earlier in his blog post, had stressed that the practice of MPs and state assemblypersons signing statutory declarations when they want to get rid of a prime minister, menteri besar or chief minister should be discouraged.

“I know this bad habit started when the Palace of Justice, in its wisdom, opened the door to let politicians remove an incumbent head of a state government by means other than a vote of confidence in the legislative assembly.

“When we discard the open-book approach of a vote of confidence, political machinations and skulduggery behind closed doors will set in,” he said.

A person who hopes to be prime minister must either win a general election in which his or her party emerges strongest, or stand up in Parliament and face the prime minister with a call for a vote of confidence.

“That’s what a real leader must do,” he said.

Zaid is part of the Save Malaysia movement which demands the resignation of Najib.

The group aims to obtain as many signatures as possible to its Citizens’ Declaration which will then be submitted to the Council of Rulers in the hope that further action will be taken. -Mkini