Pakatan will meet Umno head-on, no let-up on reforms

(Suara Keadilan) – Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said the Pakatan Rakyat was committed to knocking the ruling Umno party out of power and strengthening freedom of speech and the rule of law in the country, despite the mountain of obstacles put in its way by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration.

“You have to accept the fact that there is a widespread clamour for change,” Anwar said in an interview with the Australia Broadcasting Corp.

“The whole strategy of Umno, led by Najib, is to deflect attention from the issues of governance, of corruption, of increasing crime and complicity in many of the allegations of crime that have been committed by the ruling clique itself and by saying that the Malays are now under threat.”

A changing and better-informed society

But as the Pakatan was committed to bringing reform, so too were Malaysians on wanting change. Increasingly, they have become more concerned about the quality and type of leadership they wanted, Anwar said.

A case in point is the recent raft of scandalous decisions from the Federal Court. It has been accused by top civil society groups, including the legal fraternity, of ignoring the law as laid out in the federal constitution and making decisions that clearly favoured Najib’s Umno in regards to a power tussle in northwestern Perak state.

This posed great dangers to the country’s legal system which stood in danger of losing the trust and confidence of Malaysians themselves, Anwar warned.

“Malaysians are more vocal, they have more courage now,” he said. “I think not all members of the judiciary would like to repeat the process and be condemned by Malaysians and by the international community as being lackeys.”