Bersih must meet civil society to decide on declaration

comments     Ronnie Ooi     Published     Updated

COMMENT Maria Chin Abdullah, Ambiga Sreenevasan, Hishamuddin Rais and Cynthia Gabriel have done more for the nation than I can ever hope to do. I greatly admire and respect their sacrifices and contributions.

But putting them on a pedestal and treating them as if they can do no wrong does a disservice both to the nation and the legacy they will leave behind. Regretfully I find I cannot agree with much of what they said on the Citizen’s Declaration in the Town Hall meeting as reported in Malaysiakini 'Support Save Malaysia' , 'Critics grill signatories' and in the video clips. If the reporting is inaccurate, I apologise in advance, but I have nothing else to go on.

I agree entirely with the four signatories that Dr Mahathir Mohamad reaching out to opposition parties and civil society leaders is a unique opportunity which must be grasped, no matter what wrongs he has committed in the past. But I disagree that the Citizens’ Declaration is the only way civil society can work with Dr Mahathir.

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