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Citizens' Declaration to seek audience with Malay Rulers
Published:  Sep 18, 2016 6:47 PM
Updated: 4:24 PM

The Citizens' Declaration group will send to the Council of Rulers its petition calling for reforms, including the ousting of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"There will also be efforts to seek an audience with any Malay Ruler willing to meet with a Citizens' Declaration representative," veteran journalist Kadir Jasin said after attending the Citizens Declaration meeting.

The meeting at former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad home in Seri Kembangan today was to brief the group on Mahathir's meeting with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdul Halim Muad'zam Shah.

Mahathir submitted the petition, which it claims has been signed by more than a million Malaysians, to the Agong at Istana Anak Bukit in Alor Setar on Sept 15.

It also comes after Mahathir stalwart Khairuddin Abu Hassan rubbished claims by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin that Mahathir could not vouch for the authenticity of all signatures on the petition when quizzed by the Agong.

Kadir said the meeting today also touched on the Council of Rulers' decree last October for the government to resolve the 1MDB matter swiftly and its Feb 17 call for the Attorney-General's hambers to review the National Security Council Bill.

The Bill, which critics say eroded the Agong's powers and allowed for dictatorship, was passed into law without royal assent on Aug 4.

"The meeting found that the government had went against and ignored the Rulers' decree on 1MDB and the NSC Act," he said on his blog.

Raja Petra earlier alleged on his blog that Mahathir told the Agong he cannot guarantee the authenticity of all signatures presented to the Ruler as he did not gather them all.

"The Agong then just gave a wry smile because the way Mahathir answered was not convincing and was definitely noncommittal.

"His Majesty then looked at Mahathir who just looked down and nothing more was said about the Citizens’ Declaration or the 1.4 million signatures," claimed Raja Petra in the posting titled "What Khairuddin did not reveal regarding Mahathir's meeting with the Agong".

The authenticity of the signatures came into question after programmer Azharuddin Othman in May alleged that he had sold a database containing the personal details of 900,000 people to an activist.

He claimed the activist, Syarul Ema Rena Abu Samah, purchased the database to beef up the number of Citizens' Declaration petitioners.

Police investigated programme Azharuddin Othman over the matter while Syarul Ema Rena denied the claim.

Citizens' Declaration said every effort was made to remove any dubious signatures from the list of petitioners and denied any dealings with Azharuddin or Syarul Ema Rena.

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