Nov 12, 07 6:23pm
Insults were rained on the opposition in the Dewan Rakyat today over
the massive rally held in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend.
Without mincing his words, Minister in the Prime Minister's
Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz lashed out at the opposition,
calling them among others, "pondan" (wimps).
It started when Che Azmi A Rahman (BN-Kuala Nerus) told Nazri that he
failed to grasp the logic behind the rally which called for electoral
reforms.
The rally, organised by the opposition-backed Coalition for Clean and
Fair Elections (Bersih), saw some 40,000 people taking to the streets
and the submission of a memorandum to the King.
"The opposition has won seats in the previous elections, especially
in Kelantan. Why are they calling for the Election Commission (EC) to
be freer and fairer?" asked Che Azmi.
"Are they implying that their respective victories were a result of
the EC's failure to be free and fair?" he added.
Responding to this, Nazri (BN-Padang Renggas) said it would be
pointless to try and understand the reason behind the rally as the
"brains of opposition members do not function well."
"If I were to describe this in the language of today's youths, I
would have to say that the wires in their heads are severed. I don't
understand why they claim that the EC is unfair," he added.
Fails to understand Anwar
Nazri also said that he was puzzled by PKR de facto leader Anwar
Ibrahim.
"I would understand if he (Anwar) says that the EC is unfair after
losing an election, but he hasn't even contested to say that the EC
is unfair and that's why I say that his head does not function well."
According to the minister, the opposition icon realises that he will
lose in the coming elections should he contest for a seat.
"Not just lose, but lose terribly," he added. "That's the reason why
Anwar is trying to create a smoke screen so that he can say the EC is
not fair when he loses."
The minister then dismissed the episode as a "pondan matter" which
required no further attention.
By the end of Nazri's tirade, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-
Ipoh Timur) was already fuming and described the minister's response
as being "very irresponsible".
"We are serious in this matter, and we are not playing politics. The
real question here is whether the electoral roll has many defects. We
saw thousands of people in the gathering. Is the government ready to
give a positive response instead of making baseless and wild
accusations?" he said.
Lim also refuted the government's stand that the opposition had
dragged the royalty into politics.
"The King is the fountain of justice. Is it not the government's
responsibility to uphold the dignity of the monarchy and not insult
it in this issue?" he asked.
"Don't politicise the gathering by saying that it's a racial
gathering. There was nothing racial about it. People from all parties
and races were present so it is a national issue and not a political
issue that can be played up by the ruling government," he said.
Lim noted that the government sympathised with the pro-democracy
demonstrations in Burma but react differently when it happens in
Malaysia.
'King is behind us'
An irate Nazri retorted by shouting that the rally was illegal as no
police permit was granted.
"Yang Di Pertua (Speaker), this is a man (Lim) whose 'wires in the
head have severed'. We support the demonstrations in Myanmar (Burma)
as there's no democracy there. But we have democracy here, which is
through the elections, not through street demonstrations," he said.
"Don't try to drag the King into this. The King and the people are
behind us. They (the opposition) are afraid to face the next
elections. If you've no courage, don't become a 'pondan'," he said.
Earlier, Nazri, in replying to a query from Che Azmi, said the
government has no intention to drawing up a law to allow citizens to
be automatically registered as voters upon reaching 21 years of age.
He said the law would not be formulated as the system is not
appropriate to be implemented as yet.
"Many Malaysians who shift to another state or district do not inform
the National Registration Department of their new address.
"In this case, they have to return to their previous constituency to
cast their votes and it creates the possibility for a very poor voter
turnout as many will be reluctant to travel to their previous
constituencies to vote," he said.
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