Statement: MCLM
Malik Imtiaz Sarwar
It is with regret that I announce my disassociation from the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement, otherwise known as MCLM. Though I have at no point in time been a member of MCLM, I had committed to working with the movement to further the reform agenda.
For the sake of clarity, I note here that at all times my agreement to stand as an independent candidate hinged on my being satisfied that there was cause for it. In this I firmly believed, and still do, that the Pakatan Rakyat was pivotal in any campaign for reform, though it was not necessarily the only actor of relevance. In that light, I had resolved to stand only where my doing so would not result in a three-corner fight or where it was strictly necessary to do so.
Much has occurred since the announcement of the initiative. For one, the Pakatan Rakyat appeared to commit to a sustained effort to identify and field quality candidates. For another, Raja Petra Kamarudin felt it necessary to state his personal views as he did, in an interview with TV3 last year and recently in interviews published in the New Straits Times and the Utusan Malaysia.
I will not delve into the matters spoken of save to say that they cast a less than positive light on the MCLM in so far as its commitment to principle is concerned. Furthermore, I do not share his views.
