Stop It, BN!
By Lim Guan Eng
BN should stop destroying Malaysia’s financial reputation with irresponsible statements like freezing the assets of those deemed risky to the nation’s security because they participate in Bersih rallies calling for clean and fair elections as well as receive funding from non-profit foreign NGOs. Bersih had clarified that money the group received from two US organisations – the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Open Society Institute (OSI) – were for other projects unrelated to the July 9 march.
DAP strongly condemns Deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Hussin’s irresponsible statement that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) can freeze the assets of those believed to be participating in activities if the police recommend so. Such actions are detrimental to Malaysia’s efforts to establish itself as a safe haven for capital and investments.
Awang is the same person who announced that the Federal government had approved sports betting licenses in time for the 2010 World Cup. BN was embarrassed and forced to withdraw the sports betting licenses after the Penang state government announced the ban on sports betting, thereby destroying UMNO’s arguments that of gambling is part of Chinese culture.
If assets can be frozen just for participating in a peaceful assembly or for receiving funds from non-profit foreign NGOs, then many innocent Malaysians and organisations will be unfairly victimised. Using this as a political weapon against opponents of BN would be a gross abuse of the provisions within the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act allowed for the central bank to not only bar access to such funds but also trace both deposits and withdrawals of the offending accounts.
Would others involved in “illegal assemblies” like UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin have their assets frozen? Why then were these provisions not applied against those suspected of corruption of accumulating extraordinary wealth beyond their means? For instance no such action was taken against those suspected of secretly taking out RM 888 billion in illicit money over a 9 year period.
BN government only has itself to blame for the negative image overseas, portrayed by the international news media for its harsh crackdown on the peaceful protest Bersih. So ridiculous was the crackdown that wearing yellow was sufficient cause for arrest. And yet Queen Elizabeth received the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in a bright yellow dress two days ago in London.
The Bersih protest calling for clean and fair elections descended into chaos when the police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse protestors. The documented beatings and recorded brutal treatment on video tape was completely unprovoked and put Malaysia on the same international platform as the repressive Arab regimes in the Middle-East.
The BN government should clean up Malaysia’s image by owning up its mistakes such as firing tear gas into Tung Shin Hospital, insulting the Hindus and the Indian community by calling the revocation of Bersih S. Ambiga’s citizenship, detaining A. Samad Said because his poems is considered a weapon and apologising for the brutal crackdown.
It is good that Najib has admitted that the rally attracted 15,000 demonstrators and not the 5-6,000 demonstrators claimed by police. However this is not enough as more needs to be done such as withdrawing charges and releasing immediately all those arrested such as the PSM 6 including MP of Sungai Siput Dr Jeyakumar, for Bersih related activities.
The Bersih rally was a paradigm shift or a transformational event that attracted all Malaysians. In many of the Bersih stories told by ordinary Malaysians marching on 9 July, many amongst the 30,000 crowd was so outraged by the repression of the police as well as moved by the solidarity and support shown by other Malaysians that they felt part of the nation called Malaysia. Finally every one felt 1Malaysia regardless of race or religion or even political affiliation, whether one is rich or poor, male or female, old or young.
Even Marina Mahathir defiantly marched. Everyone marched because they wanted to be “Bersih!”.
LIM GUAN ENG
