by Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 11, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Lim Kit Siang said today Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s unannounced visit yesterday to Bersih 2.0’s rally hotspots proved the prime minister was aware that his “mishandling” of the event had plunged him in “deep political trouble”.

The DAP advisor also chided Najib for claiming support from the “silent majority” who stayed home on Saturday, and told the prime minister they had broken their silence by calling for his resignation through Facebook.

A Facebook fan page set up after the rally, called “100,000 People Request Najib Tun Razak Resignation”, reached its 100,000 mark at 3.50am this morning and is still growing steadily.

“This is a most eloquent response to Najib’s call yesterday on the ‘silent majority’ of Malaysians to make their stand in cyberspace on the Bersih 2.0 rally.

“The ‘silent majority’ of Malaysians have indeed spoken out loud and clear, in the most viral phenomenon on Malaysian cyberspace, declaring their denunciation of the Najib crackdown on the 709 Bersih 2.0 rally,” Lim said in a statement today.

Najib yesterday praised Malaysians who chose to opt out of Bersih 2.0’s Saturday rally, saying they represented the “silent majority” who did not support the outlawed coalition and its demands.

But Lim sought the shred Najib’s confident front today, claiming the prime minister’s visit yesterday to Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Masjid India was the act of a man well aware that that his credibility had plummeted to a new low.

“Najib and his strategists are aware that the prime minister is in deep political trouble because of gross mishandling of the 709 Bersih 2.0 rally — hence the instant counter of an Umno-organised briefing for Umno officials, Umno-linked NGOs and heads of government-linked companies yesterday and a walkabout by Najib at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Masjid India, two ‘hotspots’ of the 709 Bersih 2.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

Lim also likened Najib’s impromptu walkabout yesterday to that of former US president George W. Bush’s surprise visit to Baghdad following the US-led invasion into Iraq. Bush’s visit had resulted in the infamous incident when an Iraqi journalist flung both his shoes at the premier, calling him a dog and accusing him of killing Iraqis.

The veteran politician also said today that Saturday’s events had seen the death of Najib’s 1 Malaysia, which he claimed was replaced by a “Bersih 1 Malaysia” and demonstrated by thousands who took to the streets of the capital and resisted police threats to march for free and fair elections.

“Malaysians of all races, religions, gender and age walked tall despite police threats, teargas, water cannons and sustained media demonisation to re-affirm their faith in clean Malaysia where there are free and fair elections, a clean political system and incorrupt national governance,” he said.

Lim said the only way for Najib to reconnect with the newfound “Bersih 1 Malaysia” generation would be if he agreed to set up a royal commission of inquiry to review the events of the rally, take disciplinary action against errant police officers who purportedly abused civilians and fired tear gas into the Tung Shin Hospital, order the unconditional release of the six PSM members detained under the Emergency Ordinance, and lift the ban on Bersih 2.0.