Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should prove he is not afraid of the colour yellow, said DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang.
Lim said Najib can do this by instructing police to call off their probe into performance artist Bilqis Hijjas, who allegedly insulted the premier with seven yellow balloons.
"Najib should speak up, tell the police to get 'hands-off' Bilqis and show Malaysia and the world that his government is not obsessed or afraid of yellow coloured T-shirts and balloons," he said in a statement today.
Lim ( photo ) said persecuting the 35-year-old performer over seven balloons would leave a bad impression of Malaysia, especially for those attending the 16th International Anti-Corruption Convention.
"(They might think) words like 'Free Media', 'Democracy' and 'Justice' (personify) all that is most evil, reprehensible and unacceptable in Malaysia," he said referring to the words written on Bilqis’ balloons.
Lim said it also proved Malaysia had failed in becoming a psychologically secure society, which is one of the nine strategic challenges under Vision 2020.
"Malaysia has failed miserably to achieve this second 'strategic challenge' when the Malaysian government sees an enemy behind every bush and tree, and even worse as demonstrated by recent days, obsessed and even afraid of the yellow coloured T-shirts and now balloons!" Lim said.
Bilqis was detained by police yesterday after allegedly dropping the seven yellow balloons onto Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor while they were officiating an art event in the Pavilion shopping mall.
Najib and Rosmah were said to have ignored the balloons.
Bilqis was questioned under Section 504 of the Penal Code for intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, and later released on police bail.
Lim said probing her under Section 504 was absurb, as Bilqis was only guilty of using artistic licence.
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