Zaid: Malaysia turning into a fascist state
By Ken Vin Lek, Free Malaysia Today
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is emerging as a fascist state after five decades of Barisan Nasional-Umno rule, says PKR supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim.
Speaking at the launch of Friends of Pakatan Rakyat (FPR) at Holborn, London, over the weekend, Zaid likened Malaysia to an ailing nation with a sordid democracy — its body and vital state institutions all in intensive care.
About 200 people including social activists, Pakatan Rakyat members and reporters were present.
“The medication now being pumped into the sick body of this nation is fascism… fascsim has a penchant for abusing religious or ethnic identities, where they are moulded into a culture of supremacism,” he said.
“The Malaysian state right now distorts and cheapens the sacred core values of our cultural traditions beyond all recognition, so that they can be sold off as the ultimate political drug by BN.”
Zaid, who spoke with candour about the state of affairs in Malaysia, also touched on the Malaysian constitution, describing its spirit as being seriously abused over the years.
“The constitution is a document embedded with great political vision and hope, designed with an intricate system of checks-and-balances to manage justly the conflicting interests of individuals, communities and states.”
“Today, however, the spirit of the constitution has been seriously injured, as a result of the years of abuse, perpetrated through brute force by those with vested interests who turned away from liberty, justice and equality during the judicial crisis of 1988,” he added.
Zaid also hit out at Umno for its transgressions, including abusing democratic and public institutions, making a mockery of cultural values, and taking a skewed approach in defining morality.
He said that political survival of BN is meaningless without principles incorporated into its system.
Relationship with Raja Petra
Earlier last week, Bayan Baru MP Zahrain Hashim exposed details of a meeting between Zaid and fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) in Manchester, UK, last year.
Reacting to it, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein questioned Zaid’s relationship with RPK, saying that the former must clarify it to the people.
Zaid said that he is prepared to meet Hishammuddin and explain to him his relationship with RPK, provided that it is held in a public place.
He described RPK and private investigator P Balasubramaniam as men who sacrificed their freedom by living abroad because they fear for their safety.
