Lim: Playing political games with children over Bersih

State government criticises "petty politics" and asks why Bersih's theme against corruption cannot be used

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang state government has accused the federal government of “politically motivated” sabotage of state-level Merdeka celebrations by banning school children from attending because of the state’s “Bersih” theme.

Pointing out that the state had previously used its own theme in years before, chief minister Lim Guan Eng said in a statement that “playing political games should not sacrifice our economic competitiveness or innocent school children who had participated in the yearly Merdeka celebrations”.

He said the ban, because of the use of the word Bersih in the state theme, was “illogical, irrational and even irresponsible”. It was “politically motivated” to sabotage the state-level celebrations, he said.

The state education department has ordered schools not to take part in state Merdeka celebrations because of the state government’s theme of “Bersih, Cekap, Amanah”.

The theme is an echo of the Barisan Nasional’s slogan adopted by the government of Mahathir Mohamad in 1982. Bersih is also the name of the electoral reform group organising street rallies in main cities on the eve of Merdeka Day, while Amanah is the name of a new political party formed by DAP-friendly dissidents of PAS.

In criticising the federal government action, Lim linked the ban to questions that the opposition has raised about the controversial federal government investment arm 1Malaysia Development Bhd; a US$700 million deposit in bank accounts of Najib Razak, the prime minister and Umno president; the sacking of his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, who has been raised questions about 1MDB and the deposit; his replacement as education minister by Mahdzir Khalid; Mahdzir’s postponement of Muhyiddin’s policy on a compulsory pass in English at SPM; the origin of the Bersih slogan in the government of Mahathir Mohamad, who has been critical of 1MDB and sought to oust Najib Razak; and to the Bersih election reform group and its planned street rallies.

Lim said the education ministry was trying to link the word Bersih with the street rallies for Aug 29-30 and called it an “immature act of petty politics”.

He took issue with the ministry’s statement that the ban would be rescinded if the state used the federal government’s theme of “Sehati sejiwa”(One Heart, One Soul).

Defending the use of the Bersih theme, Lim said the Barisan Nasional was being “unreasonable and bullying the Penang state government” by banning the use of their own 1980s BN government’s theme. He said the word represented a campaign against corruption, and linked it to questions about the RM2.6 billion deposit.

In the process Penang school children were being “needlessly sacrificed” by being prevented from taking part in the state’s celebrations.