A clean and fair elections would mean the end of Najib and his ruling coalition, says John Malott.
KUALA LUMPUR: Former US ambassador John R Malott believes Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s “is running scared” given his guile handling of Bersih.Malott, who was Washington’s envoy here from 1995-98, in an opinion published in the Wall Street Journal today said a clean and fair elections in Malaysian would mean the end of Najib and his ruling coalition.
“Bersih’s main issue is not freedom of assembly but the fairness of Malaysia’s democratic process. Bersih’s backers ask how anyone can be opposed to free and fair elections.
“It’s an easy question to answer. The United Malays National Organisation (Umno), of which Najib is president, is the longest continuing ruling party in the world, and it is running scared.
“Many observers of Malaysian politics believe that electoral reform will lead to the ruling party’s defeat, and that is why Umno is afraid of Bersih,” he said.
Malott also accused Najib of undermining the authority of the King when he backpedalled on his promise to provide a stadium for Bersih to hold its July 9 rally if it agreed to call of its planned street protests.
“Najib has undermined the authority of the king, who gave Bersih and its concerns credence by meeting with its leadership and calling for a negotiated solution”.
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