Citizens' Declaration: Chegubard mocks opposition leaders

KUALA LUMPUR: Suspended PKR life member Badrul Hisham Shaharin has branded opposition leaders who joined Dr Mahathir Mohamad in inking the Citizens' Declaration as lazy, saying they should be mobilising grassroots support on their own to topple the government.

According to the former Rembau PKR division chief, the mood of the people on the street is for a regime change.

“They should just go back to the grassroots and tackle the basic life problems and mobilise the rakyat to topple the regime. But instead, they bear Mahathir,” said Badrul in an interview with Berita Daily on Tuesday.

Badrul stressed that Mahathir will always be an Umno man despite having quit the party a second time.

“He has lost his influence in the party and is just playing politics.

“Look at (former Kedah menteri besar) Mukhriz (Mahathir), (Umno vice-president) Shafie (Apdal) and (suspended Umno deputy president) Muhyiddin (Yassin)…all of them are still in Umno.

“Their move is still within Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) framework,” Badrul said.

He also reminded the opposition leaders that Mahathir did the same thing in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s time that ultimately benefited current Prime Minister Najib Razak.

“Mahathir is inside out Umno and he himself has pledged to return to the party when Najib is no longer the prime minister.

“And now we (the opposition) hold them as hero. I wanted to ask, in the next general election, wouldn’t the opposition front install a candidate against Muhyiddin if he stands for BN? The same person that has been billed a hero, the icon for struggle and agent of change.

“Now what will the rakyat think of the opposition then?” he said.

Badrul added that the opposition should inch closer to Putrajaya on its own strength unless a unity government is on the cards.

“Unless the opposition feels that the best way to move forward is a unity government led by Mahathir’s choice of prime minister.

“Or, the opposition is ready to join Umno after this,” he said, sarcastically.

The founder of the Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) said that his NGO's stand is for a caretaker government to take over the nation’s administration till the next general election.

“The first thing that the caretaker government must do is to set the date to dissolve Parliament. Give a grace period of two years for the caretaker government to solve the nation’s crisis and indict any parties of their wrongdoings without any compromise.

“In the two years, the caretaker government also must reform the electoral system to ensure a clean and fair election,” he said.

A number of political heavyweights from both sides of the divide last Friday cast aside their differences and joined hands in a bid to oust Najib from office by launching the Citizens' Declaration.

Malaysia's longest serving prime minister Mahathir‎, once reviled by the opposition as the pharoah for his way of ruling the country, led the movement which managed to secure more than 50 signatories.

Among Mahathir's one-time rivals who signed the declaration were PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, PKR vice- president Tian Chua, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu.