Stop lying about real situation in country, ex-EC chief tells Najib

Perkasa veep Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman says he was surprised to have been promoted, instead of being demoted, after having criticised the prime minister previously. – The Malaysian Insider pic, December 14, 2014.Without mincing his words, former Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman today told Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to stop lying to the public about the real situation in the country.

"Please stop lying to the rakyat and go do your work. Please also tell the Malay leaders to be honest and do whatever they can (to help the Malays)," said Abdul Rashid, a Perkasa vice-president, at the Malay rights group's annual general meeting today.

Abdul Rashid took issue with corruption in Umno and the government, saying he did not mind if Umno supporters were to get upset with him for openly criticising Najib, saying he had nothing to hide.

"Now, I am very loud in criticising people but no one dares to come to me and criticise me because I do not take a percentage or steal other people's money. I have nothing to hide," said Abdul Rashid, adding that he had confronted Najib before on previous occasions.

"I told him right to his face. I also told him that if he doesn't like me he could just demote me but instead of demoting me, I was promoted," said the retired election commissioner, who managed six of Malaysia's general elections.

He was the commission's secretary from 1979 and its chairman from 2000 to 2008.

Abdul Rashid said that whatever suggestions made at the Perkasa annual meeting today would not "go anywhere" as "the corrupt are not going to listen".

"They (Umno) are afraid that they will lose in the general election. I said they are not, but we will have lots of challenges," said Abdul Rashid.

He also suggested today that Perkasa ought to become a political party to rule the country, as it was the only way to ensure that the country would be led by the "right people".

“I urge Perkasa to fortify efforts to become a political body which will rule this country.

“Once you run this country, no need to complain (to Umno and Barisan Nasional),” he said.

Rashid said the main weakness of the Federal government was its failure to address corruption.

“The Chinese, the Indians they corrupt our leaders. That is because they are smart. Now even the Malays corrupt our leaders,” said.

The veteran civil servant said that although Barisan Nasional (BN) was still the ruling coalition, it was in a very weak state, like a fish out of water drawing its dying breath.

“They have not lost, but they are ‘nyawa-nyawa ikan’ (almost dying),” he said.

Criticising Umno for its weakness, he also snubbed the party's annual general assembly held each year, saying that the resolutions passed were not enforced and only ended up in the "dustbin".

- TMI