Are PH leaders illiberal, asks KJ

 

Khairy Jamaluddin said many of the reforms had been carried out by former prime ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (left) and his successor, Najib Razak.

PETALING JAYA: 

A former Umno leader has questioned whether Pakatan Harapan leaders were more conservative after noting that many of the major reforms that had been implemented were put in place by Barisan Nasional.

Khairy Jamaluddin said many of the reforms had been carried out by former prime ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his successor, Najib Razak, during their respective tenures.

The former health minister also said these reforms were not “alien to Umno” and were put in place despite some members disagreeing with them.

“I think we have to ask ourselves this question: are PH’s leaders actually illiberal?” Khairy, who was an Umno Youth chief, asked in the latest episode of the Keluar Sekejap podcast.

He was commenting on speculation that the government wants to amend the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA).

According to three media rights groups, the amendments include reinstating the mandatory three-year media licence renewal requirement for media companies and extending the definition of “publication” to digital and electronic content.

Khairy’s co-host, Shahril Hamdan, had earlier said he found it ironic that several of the major reforms that had been put in place, including the repeal of the Internal Security Act, had occurred under BN administrations.

Shahril said Abdullah had established the judicial appointments commission, while Najib had introduced a minimum wage.

And while the former Umno information chief admitted that these reforms were introduced in response to pressure from the opposition, they were still carried out by a prime minister from BN and Umno.

“The current administration is not led by BN, but Pakatan Harapan. There have been two to three uncomfortable incidents and episodes and they (PH) seem to have abandoned their identity,” he said, referring to the reformist image the coalition has long been associated with.

“And that’s the irony.”

Umno’s refusal to acknowledge 1MDB’s ‘failures, mistakes’

Separately, Shahril said Umno has refused to acknowledge the “failures and mistakes” involving 1MDB, or that something had gone wrong with the sovereign wealth fund under Najib.

He said the refusal to admit to these failures and mistakes prevented the party from “moving on from Najib”, leading to it being a thorn in the side of the relationship between PH and Umno. PH and Umno are part of the current unity government.

“This refusal (to acknowledge failures) remains to this day. It’s easier to brush it aside than face the reality because it’s really uncomfortable. It’s easier to push the narrative of fighting for Najib’s freedom and that injustice was done to him.

“That has been the Umno line since 2018. There has never been a reckoning of what exactly happened,” he added. - FMT