MCLM names human rights lawyer as second election candidate
(The Star) – The Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) Tuesday named human rights lawyer Sreekant Pillai (above) as the second candidate from its movement to contest in the next general election.
The son of the late veteran journalist of M.G.G. Pillai said he was chosen to be independent because “the current Government has nothing more it can offer to the people and the existing parties are not doing what the rakyat wants.”
“My father taught me that there is nothing wrong in being idealistic, to always stand for what you believe in and always search for the truth. That is exactly what I am doing now,” Sreekant, 37, who is representing the Selangor government in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, said in a statement.
On Dec 12, MCLM unveiled prominent lawyer and the National Human Rights Society president Malik Imtiaz Sarwar (above) as its first candidate to contest in the election.
Meanwhile, an umbrella body of student groups has pledged to be deployed as candidates to MCLM in the next general election.
Soladariti Mahasiswa Malaysia chairman Shazni Munir Mohd Ithnin said the student movement was willing to work together with MCLM as both shared similar principles and objectives.
MCLM president Haris Ibrahim said the purpose of the movement was to assist political parties field better candidates by giving suggestions of viable persons who can serve the public.
“The people are the Third Force and we believe their interests should come first, which is why we are offering top notch candidates,” he said.
Haris added that MCLM had engaged a risk management agency to conduct thorough background checks on the candidates to ensure they were people of integrity.
He also said the movement was not a political party but rather a facilitator to ensure candidates stuck to the agenda of serving the rakyat and not their own interests.
Controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin is MCLM’s chairman.
Launched on Oct 30, MCLM promotes itself as a “third force” in Malaysian politics and seeks to reform the political environment.
