Umno foes applaud Pak Lah’s parting shot
By Lee Wei Lian and Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani (The Malaysian Insider)
KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 – In a not-unexpected move, senior Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders latched on to one point in outgoing Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi’s speech this morning: a warning against a return to the “old ways.”
In his keynote address at the opening of the Umno General Assembly, Abdullah hit out at anti-reformists in the party saying that those who believed in the “old order” – read Mahathirism – risked hastening the party’s demise.
Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar, the secretary general of PAS, admitted that Abdullah had relaxed repressive measures and said that it was unfortunate Abdullah had not come out more strongly.
“There are things he did such as the relaxation of repressive measures that should have been properly acknowledged and defended,” Kamaruddin told the Malaysian Insider.
Lim Kit Siang said that Abdullah made a subtle but unmistakable warning against the return of Mahathirism, and at the same time he also admitted that Najib had begun to speak the language of reform.
“Najib should take a clear-cut stand in his acceptance speech as the new Umno president on Saturday, to set his face clearly and strongly against any return of Mahathirism in his premiership,” Lim wrote in his blog entry on Abdullah’s keynote cum farewell speech.
PR leaders have felt increasingly under seige in recent months starting with the ouster of the Perak state government last month, the one-year suspension of Puchong lawmaker Gobind Singh Deo from parliament this month and most recently, the suspension of the PKR and Pas party newspapers for three months. The last coincides with three by-elections that will take place on April 7.
This has led to fears within PR that Najib, who has taken over the Umno party presidency and who will also assume the post of prime minister, will liberally use instruments of the state to crackdown on dissent.
“I believe these events are of concern to Malaysians, the crackdown on party newspapers and ceramahs,” said PKR vice-president Mohamed Azmin Ali, refering to the use of police force to disperse recent opposition political gatherings which were deemed illegal be due to the lack of police permits.
In his speech, Abdullah made a final attempt as party president to prevent such further scenarios by saying: “Sadly, there are those who feel that we do not need to pursue reforms. They believe that Umno will regain its glory if we revert to the old ways – the old order, by restricting the freedom of our citizens and by silencing their criticism. If we revert to the old path I believe we are choosing the wrong path; one that will take us to regression and decay. It is a path that I fear will hasten our demise.”
“I am so happy that Abdullah gave such a strong statement on not silencing criticism,” said Azmin. “We should not look backwards but move forward. We should not silence our critics and we should open up the democratic space in this country.”
