THIS REPORT IS TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM SARAWAK
REPORT
19 April 2018
Following a visit to KL the UK Foreign Office Minister Mark Field has made a stinging condemnation of Najb’s latest moves to fix the election and to suppress criticism through his so-called ‘Fake News’ law.
Answering questions tabled
at the end of March by the veteran Malaysia-watcher Ann Clwyd MP on
Tuesday evening, the Minister, who has responsibility for matters
relating to Britain and Malaysia, called on Malaysia to accept external
election monitoring in the up-coming election, something the Malaysian
Prime Minister has consistently refused to allow.
Although couched in
the usual diplomatic language, the responses by the Minister represent
an unprecedented put-down by the British Government, which has till this
point remained one of Najib’s most solid allies as global corruption
scandals have unravelled.
Clwyd
had asked whether the British Secretary of State had made
representations on the potential effect on freedom of speech of the Fake
News law in Malaysia; the effect of the latest gerrymandering of
constituencies on the veracity of the general election and what over-all
assessment the minister had made of the political situation in Malaysia
in the run-up to general elections?
In
his response to the first point, Mark Field expressed Britain’s formal
concern and disapproval not only over the Fake News law itself, but also
the way it was undemocratically forced through in a matter of hours,
without meaningful scrutiny or due process. He went on to pointedly
confirm that the UK is working together with other European nations in
the EU to monitor the situation closely:
“The UK regularly highlights its firm commitment to freedom of speech and expression. I am concerned about the potential effect that the new Anti-Fake News Bill could have on freedom of expression in Malaysia, and about the fact that this Bill was passed without meaningful public consultation or debate. We are monitoring developments closely, working with EU and other foreign partners and stand ready to make any necessary representations.”
Shunned By The Commonwealth?
Meanwhile,
Najib Razak has notably failed to present himself at the key biennial
Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London this week. The last
minute no show means that Malaysia has effectively ruled itself out of
taking over as the Chair of the next summit in 2020, which till this
point had been expected to take place in KL.
It represents an enormous blow to Najib, who coverts international recognition, and Sarawak Report has surmised that
in the wake of the 1MDB scandal, followed by Najib’s hardline measures
to protect himself, the situation had simply become too embarassing for
other Commonwealth nations to accept.
In
his second answer, responding to the outrageous re-delineations again
rushed through in a violation of due process by Najib, Field revealed
that he had himself visited KL the previous week and it seems impossible
not to conclude that these matters were not discussed during those
meetings. The outcome appears to have been the decision to drop Najib
as the prospective Chair in waiting for CHOGM 2020:
Field went on to reveal that Britain has now formally urged the Malaysian Government to accept external observers, something Najib Razak has doggedly refused to allow, despite persistent requests from the opposition parties and NGO campaigners, in particular the internationally respected clean election group, Bersih:“On my visit to Malaysia last week, I heard about concerns related to the electoral boundary changes introduced by the Election Commission. We will be monitoring their impact, and have discussed the importance of free and fair elections with the Malaysian government at the highest levels.”
”We continue to follow the political situation in Malaysia closely. During my visit to Kuala Lumpur last week, I heard about the recent changes to constituency boundaries and the passing of the Anti-Fake News Bill. I recognise that there are concerns related to both issues. The UK continues to stress the importance of free and fair elections and open and vibrant political debate. We have also encouraged Malaysia to invite external election observers, in advance of the 9 May election. [Answers FCO Mark Field 17th April]
Malaysia’s
caretaker government may continue its course for the remainder of this
election period, denying the undeniable and criminalising honest
reporting and criticism online.
However,
voters need to realise that outside of their propaganda bubble, the
rest of the world has got the measure of Najib Razak and blackballed his
kleptocracy, presenting very severe consequences of loss of trust in
the wider nation were he to persist in power post May 9th.
Other interesting posts:
http://kluangmanexpress.blogspot.my/
https://youtu.be/_ArLWCl-34g
https://youtu.be/f2-VwVwIEao
Other interesting posts:
http://kluangmanexpress.blogspot.my/
https://youtu.be/_ArLWCl-34g
https://youtu.be/f2-VwVwIEao