Pakatan mocks Najib’s Senate-powered appointments
“I am concerned with these appointments, that even more senators have been appointed,” the Ipoh Timur MP told reporters after attending a PR secretariat meeting at the PKR headquarters here.
He listed out the senators who were named as deputy ministers to assist the Cabinet ministers — PPP vice-president Datuk Maglin Dennis D’Cruz (Information, Communications and Culture), MCA vice-president Datuk Donald Lim (Finance), MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu (Youth and Sports) and MIC deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel (Plantation Industries and Commodities).
“This is a government with the biggest number of senators — a government of senators, not of elected representatives in the Parliament,” he declared.
Lim said the appointments served as an “indictment” to Najib’s premiership and accused the prime minister of being “regressive and reactionary” instead of “progressive and reformist”.
PR had earlier urged Najib to hold a series of by-elections to allow his newly appointed senators to contest for a spot in Parliament in order to better justify their posts in government.
“Yes, I would agree to that. It appears that by Najib’s measurement, there are no qualified representatives from Umno or the MIC to sit in the government which is why he chose these others.
“Better to have by-elections so that these appointees can contest… it would bring us plenty of benefit,” jibed PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when agreeing with Lim.
Lim, who proposed the idea, said the by-elections would help Najib remove the “deadwood” representatives in the BN who Najib had felt were “unfit” to become ministers or deputy ministers.
“And then you can see him (Najib) pouring billions of ringgit in the constituencies like in the Sibu by-election and he would even visit at least three times during the 10 days (campaign period),” he said.
