Serious setback for Dr M and his party, says Salleh

KUALA LUMPUR: Ber­sih 5 turnout was a serious setback for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his new party, says Commu­nications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak.

He said Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia was supposed to bring masses of new Malay supporters to the Opposition and Bersih 5.

But yesterday’s rally saw a se­­rious drop in participants compared to last year’s rally, he said.

“The result of Mahathir and his cronies joining Bersih (yesterday) has seen the turnout drop by nearly 97%. Malays see through his selfish agenda and refused to attend.

“And the vast majority of Malay­sians have rejected the hypocrisy of Bersih, and rejected Pribumi.

“They can see it is a party of has-beens and failures, created only out of Mahathir’s desperation for his son to become prime minister after Umno rejected him,” he said in a statement.

MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said there was nothing democratic about bringing down a democratically-elected Government through street rallies that caused disruption to social stability.

Malaysians treasured peace and harmony. But, he said, there were those who wanted to incite them to topple the Government illegally.

The Bersih movement, which started as an electoral reform group, had deviated from its original objectives, he added.

“MCA supports the call for a clean and fair election, but Bersih has been made into a tool by the Oppo­sition,” he said at the opening of the annual general meeting of the Federation of Foochow Associations Malaysia here yesterday.

He urged the people to take a good look at the Opposition and not fall into their political trap.

The Government, he added, would not allow street rallies to hinder its transformation programmes for the country.

Liow’s comments were echoed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.

She accused Bersih of not respecting the mandate of a democrati­cally-elected Government.

She also called the leaders spearheading the Yellow movement a “motley crew of former enemies driven by self-interest, not for the greater good of society”.

“If it is was really the people they truly cared about, they would not break Malaysia’s laws and bring chaos to our capital, negatively impacting businesses and the people who are trying to go about their daily lives.

“It is unlawful for any party to try to unseat a democratically-elected government via street protests.

“They should play by the rules of our democracy and wait until the next election so that Malay­sians can again choose their government via the ballot box,” Azalina said in a statement.