Here is the Al Jazeera panel discussion (in two parts) on the 10 Nov rally to demand electoral reforms. The panelists were Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy, de facto Law Minister Nazri (Umno as well) and human rights lawyer Imtiaz.
Here’s an excerpt. Nazri tries to keep up with the fast-paced discussion by repeating his mantra about democracy ala Umno/BN, putting words in the mouth of the moderator – and then forgetting what the question was. Amazing feat!
What’s even more astonishing is his claim that there is no need for any institutional reform whatsoever.
Moderator: Is there a need for institutional reform in the government?
Nazri: No.
Moderator: At all?
Nazri: At all… because, you know… what do you mean by people? Are you saying that, you know, I don’t represent the people? Are you saying the government does not represent the people? We are elected by the people. What people are you talking about? And what is democracy? Democracy means listening to the majority. I mean, that’s democracy. What else can we do? You can’t say that we are not listening to the people because, you know, we represent the people.
Moderator: Are… Is the fact that people are politically motivated a reason to say therefore their views are irrelevant?
Nazri: You’re saying that we are not listening to the people, whereas we represent the people…
Moderator: I have never said that you are not listening to the people; I am saying…
Nazri: Yes, so what do you mean by uh… not uh… not uh…. At the end of the day, there is democracy. You know, democracy means majority of the people will decide. So that’s it.
After watching it, someone joked that 2 against 1 wasn’t very fair; 5 against 1 would have made it a more balanced contest!
Part One
Part Two
| Please help to support this blog if you can. Read the commenting guidlelines for this blog. |
The same goes for Electro l Reforms – what the SIL says, “plethora of changes that have taken place by the election commission to make election process in Malaysia more free. Transparent ballot boxes, indelible ink being used to make sure the voters do not vote twice, trying to erase away from the electoral roll people who have passed on and things like that” His boast of the changes in the Election Commission is indeed hollow and superficial changes that can make the elections look free but NOT fair. Now what about the behind the scene moves in transferring voters… Read more »