Keep piling pressure on Najib to step down, says Zaid

A week after the March 27 gathering, former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim has asked the people to keep the momentum going to get Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to step down.

He said the momentum of the March 27 gathering could be sustained only if every Malaysian continues to pressure the prime minister to step down.

“Ask what you can do to help in moving the momentum forward,” the former Kota Baru MP said in a blog posting today.

He also urged the people to sign the petition supporting the Citizens' Declaration online. At present, more than 48,800 people have signed the petition for Najib to step down.

He was responding to questions on what is the next course of action after the March 27 gathering which saw former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, with PKR deputy president Mohamad Azmin Ali, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu on the same stage calling for Najib to step down.

Zaid also assured that plans for institutional reforms would be done after Najib is removed.

Describing institutional reforms as an easy part, the former minister said the changes that were required were clear to all the parties in the Save Malaysia campaign.

“We are already compiling all proposals and ideas on major aspects of our public policies - from the economy to changes in our laws.

“We want to ensure that democracy stays alive; we want a prime minister who can never be an emperor. We want to make sure that he cannot also take on the finance minister portfolio and just give contracts to his wife or his wife’s friends,” he said.

“We want a better police force, which definitely means having a better inspector-general of police than the present one.”

Better judges

“We need a more professional civil service so that good honest civil servants can move to the top,” he said, adding that “we also want a public prosecutor who is a different person from the attorney-general, who shall remain as adviser to the government.

“We most definitely want to have a better set of ministers.”

“We will probably do away with the post of integrity minister as all the ministers are expected to have integrity. We need better judges, which means good ones who can move up without having to suck up to the prime minister.

“We want economic policies that help the working class, and making sure the rich no longer can abuse their position.

On the money collected for the event (Save Malaysian campaign), Zaid said the amount collected was almost RM29,000.

Of this, RM71,000 was paid to the Shah Alam Convention Centre, while RM8,000 was for security services, and another RM6,000 for printing and miscellaneous charges.

“So, 30 percent of the costs are paid by members of the public. I am so proud of you and thank you very much,” he said. -Mkini