Anwar Ibrahim

---

BN urged to work with ‘majority’ on reforms Posted: 24 May 2013 10:48 PM PDT Malaysiakini PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has urged BN to work with the “majority of the rakyat” who supported the opposition to embark on democratic reforms first before calling for national reconciliation. “As the voice of the majority of rakyat, we continue to demand that the minority BN government to join us in executing the Democratic Restoration Agenda … through political reforms, electoral reforms and parliamentary reforms before offering reconciliation,” she said in her policy speech to the 9th PKR Congress this morning. PKR, together with allies PAS and DAP under Pakatan Rakyat, had garnered 51 percent of the popular vote but only secured 40 percent of seats in Parliament as compared to the ruling BN coalition which won 47 percent of the popular vote but bagged 60 percent of seats. Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had immediately called for national reconciliation after the election results of May 5 but had since moved to arrest several opposition figures following massive rallies to protest against the polls results, alleging fraud. Newly-minted Home Minister Zahid Hamidi had said that the “silent majority” were against Pakatan’s protests and argued those who did not agree with the country’s electoral system should emigrate. However, Wan Azizah today reminded that the electoral verdict showed the “majority” of Malaysians was on Pakatan’s side and Zahid’s assertion showed that BN was insincere about national reconciliation. “Do BN leaders want 51 percent of Malaysians to move to another country? “Even other countries which use the ‘first past the post’ system, the differences in the number of voters in large and small constituencies are not as great,” she said. Malaysia’s largest parliamentary constituency of Kapar (144,000 voters) is nine times bigger than the country’s smallest – Putrajaya (16,000 voters).   ‘EC leadership must resign’ Wan Azizah also called on the Election Commission’s (EC) leadership to resign for “not ony failing to ensure a clean and fair election but abetting in BN’s criminal cheating”. She added that even the only one of eight demands of electoral reform group Bersih which the EC implemented, namely the indelible ink, ended up in failure. She also called for the royal commission of inquiry investigating the illegal granting of citizenship to foreigners which is ongoing in Sabah to also be expanded nationwide. Wan Azizah said the party remains committed to the Black 505 nationwide rallies to protest the alleged electoral fraud. She noted the large number of youths present during the rallies, calling them the hope of the future. “The arrest and prosecution of a youth named Adam Adli recently shows the BN government’s fear towards youths who dared to speak the truthg and oppose electoral fraud,” she said. The PKR president adds that the 13th general election was a rejection of BN’s politics of race, violence, divide and rule as well as fanatical elements. She also urged the strengthening of the party’s leadership and machinery going forward.

You are subscribed to email updates from Anwar Ibrahim To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610