Kit Siang dares Najib to respect power transition

DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang today challenged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to declare that BN and Umno will respect the outcome of the 13th general election, even if the outcome requires them to surrender power.

This, he said, was in line with Najib’s (left in photo) declaration that he wants to make Malaysia the “world’s best democracy”.

“If he is sincere and serious about this declaration, then he must demonstrate first that Malaysia qualifies to be a normal democratic country where peaceful transition of power through the ballot box is not only the democratic right of the voters but accepted as a normal and routine practice in the country,” he said in a statement today.

Lim was responding to a recent statement by 20 prominent scholars, calling on the government and opposition to jointly craft a declaration that they will respect the decision of the people in the next general election.

“To forestall any attempt at disruption of the election outcome, we propose that all political leaders and political parties agree to a short statement promising that they will respect the will of the people exercised at the polling booth as well as honour a peaceful transition of power,” their statement read.

This, Lim said, was something that DAP “fully endorses” and called on the government to do the same.

“Is Najib therefore prepared to make a clear-cut and unequivocal declaration that he, Umno and BN would accept the electoral verdict of the Malaysian voters in the 13th general elections, including a change of federal power in Putrajaya?”

“Is he prepared to retract his ‘crushed bodies, lives lost’ declaration to the 2010 Umno general assembly to defend Umno power at all costs in Putrajaya - which is completely against his claim that he wants to make Malaysia ‘the best democracy in the world’?” he said.

Lim added that he will field this question in the next Parliament sitting set for June 11, if it is not dissolved for widely expected early polls by then.