See Chee How
KUCHING: Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How is in shock that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had gone to the extent of removing his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and replaced the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Patail.
See, who is state PKR vice-chairman, said Najib was desperate to put a cap on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) mess but the moral authority of his administration had weakened further.
“The removal of Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Patail as Attorney-General is sudden and tainted with unconstitutionality. The removal of Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the suspension of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily, the blocking of Sarawak Report and the travel ban imposed on elected representatives and activists, are drastic actions and a strong signal that the prime minister will do all he can to muzzle the 1MDC dissents,” he said in a statement received here yesterday.
See said it was unlikely that such drastic actions would yield the desired results, adding that the 1MDB mess had dragged on for too long and had seriously damaged the moral authority of the federal administration.
“The latest actions will fuel the public uproar and unless the prime minister immediately clears himself from the 1MDB scandal, it is foreseeable that the prime minister will dissolve parliament and call for a general election within a short time to seek a fresh mandate for his government.”
With the country facing its worst political, financial and economic crisis, he certainly hoped that opposition parties and civil societies would put aside their political differences and work together for a most pressing common agenda – to save the country from ruin.
“I call on BN MPs from Sarawak and Sabah to reassess their position in BN. This is an opportune time for all Sarawakians and Sabahans, irrespective of their political affiliations to unite and demand the best deals to safeguard their rights and interests.”
Meanwhile, state DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen said Abdul Ghani’s dismissal should have been done a long time ago.
“There were many selective prosecutions under his authority. He should have been gone a long time ago,” he said in a press conference.
Chong cited Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case and the attorney-general’s appeal for former DAP chairman, the late Karpal Singh, to be given custodial sentence for sedition charge, were clear cut cases of selective prosecutions by Abdul Ghani.
“He was the one who decided to appeal for custodial sentence for Karpal when he was only fined for sedition charge.”