Salleh: Not reformers, just a bunch of anti-Najib plotters
Umno man derides Citizens’ Declaration as recycled list of aspirations, not reform programme.
(FMT) – Sabah Umno’s Salleh Said Keruak has pooh-poohed the Citizens’ Declaration signed on Friday as a recycled list of aspirations dating back to 1998 and not a blueprint for political reforms.
He dismissed the 58 signatories as a “union of all those opposed to the prime minister, Najib Razak” who had tried to make yesterday’s gathering appear to be a platform to seek reforms and political change.
“They seem to forget that there is a mechanism to do something like that. And that mechanism is called a general election,” he said.
“What they really wanted was to create the impression that the move to oust the Prime Minister is being backed by the majority of the rakyat. This, of course, is not true. The 58 individuals are not representative of 30 million Malaysians. It is not even representative of 15 million Malaysian voters,” he said.
He was dismissive of the 58 people, noting that they comprised “some retired politicians, police officers and government officers, plus some who call themselves civil society leaders”, and pointed out that the true representatives of the people were the 800 people elected to Parliament and the State Assemblies.
Yesterday’s meeting came at the initiative of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has waged a year-long campaign against Najib seeking his ouster. It was attended by suspended Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin, vice-president, Shafie Apdal, Mahathir’s son Mukhriz, who was recently deposed as Kedah menteri besar, and opposition politicians such as Lim Kit Siang, Azmin Ali and Muhajid Yusof Rawa.
“What we saw yesterday was merely a movement to oust the Prime Minister,” he said, with the “so-called Citizens’ Declaration the excuse to justify what they were doing”.
He called the document a mere list of aspirations and desires, which offered no solutions, and with aspirations that differed from one person to another.
