Government not a dictatorship, says Najib

PETALING JAYA: The Prime Minister has stressed that the Malaysian government observes parliamentary democracy and is not a dictatorship.

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (pic) was responding to a comment by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Friday that Malaysia was heading towards a dictatorship like North Korea after the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) blocked access to online news portal The Malaysian Insider.

Najib who was speaking at a gathering in Kampung Muhibbah Saturday stressed that Malaysia was not an authoritarian government.

"We are not a dictatorship or an authoritarian government. We practise parliamentary democracy and regard it highly.

"People say the government is going to fall, but they are wrong," he said.

Najib stressed that it was essential for Malaysia to be politically stable and added that BN would make sure of it.

He added that high credit ratings over the years from international financial bodies showed that he was doing a good job with the country's administration.

"Recently the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave a positive certification for the country's economy management and even Fitch gave us an A-.

"We get positive approval of international rating agencies, so if anyone says we don't run the country well, they must have a political motive behind it and they do not mean well.

"In fact, the country's budget and other proposed legislation were passed in Parliament with a majority vote," said Najib, adding that this reflected democracy.