Ku Li backs Bersih’s demands
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid, FMT
PETALING JAYA: Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah backed Bersih 2.0′s call for electoral reforms, describing them as “fair demands”.
This puts him on collision course with the party’s official line, which deems the polls watchdog as illegal and insisting that the country’s election system is clean.
While many of his party members including Prime Minister Najib Razak are hellbent on demonising Bersih, the Kelantan prince said the demands made by the loose coalition of 62 NGOs should be heeded if the present administration genuinely advocates justice and fairness.
“I don’t know what their intentions are. I don’t know them personally but as a democrat… given that Umno itself had vowed to protect democracy in this country, it is a must to consider all their demands,” he told a press conference in Gua Musang on Sunday.
“It is not like they are looking to topple the government,” he added, referring to the repeated accusation by government leaders that Bersih’s planned rally was a masked coup d’etat attempt.
The Najib administration also accused Bersih 2.0 of being an opposition stooge while Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia had gone as far as accusing the NGO of being “foreign agent” in a Western conspiracy to wrest federal power.
Razaleigh, affectionately known as Ku Li, suggested that it was normal for the opposition to support the group’s demands.
“They want to put in their candidates and contest too so let the voters decide. If they decide to vote for the opposition, what can we do? That is the democratic right of the voters.”
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