PM warns Malaysians against revolution
UPDATED @ 03:05:10 PM 19-07-2012
KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 — Countries which have experienced revolution or drastic changes in governance are now faced with uncertainties, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.
The prime minister said unlike various countries facing predicaments following a drastic change in leadership, Malaysia was transitioning slowly into a developed and high-income nation.
“We are in a transition, if we do something without careful planning like a revolution, it will be followed by chaos, and things will become worse without a systematic transformation system,” Najib (picture) said during the closing of a youth leadership convention here.
“Malaysia is now in a stable situation, and we must ensure this peace and stability remains,” he added.
Najib said his administration has since reformed laws “to make sure our system is more open, respects human and civil rights, while ensuring the country is safe and protected”.
He pledged to implement various programmes for Malaysians to achieve their highest potential.
“This is the most ideal state we are trying to achieve,” he said, adding the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) will keep implementing “effective policies to shape a better future”.
“We will work hard for your future by the power vested in us. We will not let you down,” he added.
On April 28, electoral watchdog group Bersih held its third and largest protest which turned rowdy after police charged at thousands of protesters.
Leaders from BN, including Najib, have repeatedly painted Bersih’s most recent rally as an attempt to oust its democratically-elected government, a charge the movement’s leader Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan has denied just as frequently.
Bersih has been lobbying the Najib administration to enforce electoral reforms, including cleaning the voter roll of dubious entries, before the next national polls due in nine months.
Putrajaya has pledged to undertake the reforms after last year’s massive July 9 rally garnered negative publicity for the Najib administration around the world, but the authorities have been accused of dragging their feet over their implementation, which the Election Commission (EC) said will take time.
Ambiga also accused the BN coalition of relentlessly “demonising” the electoral watchdog, with the latest incident seeing anti-Bersih flyers bearing the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry’s official logo being distributed around the Klang Valley.
