NGOs want royal inquiry into impasse
(The Star) IPOH: Fifty-seven non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Perak are calling for a royal inquiry into the political impasse in the state.
Group spokesman Dr Khairuddin Abd Malik said yesterday an inquiry would ensure once and for all that such an unfortunate incident would not be repeated.
”The same thing happened in Terengganu in the 1950s and Kelantan in the 1960s.
”Forty years on and it is still happening, which goes to show that we have not learnt from the past,” he told a press conference.
Dr Khairuddin claimed that the political impasse started from a corruption and sex scandal involving PKR-turned independent assemblymen Mohd Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering) and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang).
He also alleged that former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had full knowledge that the two had switched allegiance at the time when they went “missing.”
“Anyone involved in crime must be judged, regardless of their status.
“The law must be executed fairly,” Dr Khairuddin said, adding that there were witnesses willing to testify in the inquiry should one be set up.
”A number of them are civil servants who have full knowledge of what went on and we are not willing to jeopardise their safety unless there is an inquiry,” he added.