Malaysian Police Summon Anti-PM Protest Organizers
Organizers of a huge weekend demonstration demanding the Malaysian prime minister's removal over graft allegations said Tuesday they had been summoned by police, as Transparency International spoke of a "corruption crisis" in the country.
Several protest leaders were ordered to report to police and give statements on Wednesday, said Maria Chin Abdullah, chair of Bersih, the coalition of Malaysian NGOs and activist groups that staged the two days of rallies.
"It's an absolute waste of time. They want to intimidate us but they won't succeed," she told AFP.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has been under fire since the Wall Street Journal in July published Malaysian documents showing nearly $700 million had been deposited into his personal bank accounts beginning in 2013.
Najib initially angrily rejected the report but his cabinet ministers have since admitted the transfers, calling them "political donations" from unidentified Middle Eastern sources but giving no details.
Najib denies any wrongdoing.
Graft watchdog Transparency International warned Tuesday the country is "facing a major corruption crisis", in a statement released following its annual global meeting, coincidentally being held in Malaysia.
It called for "a strong and clear commitment from the government of Malaysia to ensure" independent investigations of all allegations and impartial punishment for those found guilty.
Official investigations into the scandal appear to have been stalled after Najib sacked his attorney general and reassigned other officials who were looking into the affair.
Tens of thousands swarmed central Kuala Lumpur and other Malaysian cities over the weekend to call for Najib's ousting and for broader government reforms, despite police declaring the protests illegal.
Bersih, which means "clean" in Malay and was formed originally to press for electoral reform, said more than 200,000 people were on the streets in central Kuala Lumpur at the peak on Saturday.
Police put the number at 29,000.
Najib denounced the demonstrators on Sunday night as "shallow-minded" and refused to step down.
Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi, who is also home minister in charge of domestic security, warned over the weekend that organizers may face charges under sedition, assembly or other laws.
Malaysia's long-ruling government takes a tough line against dissent.
In a statement Monday Human Rights Watch criticized Zahid's threat.
"Malaysia should recognize that its people have the right to voice their political views, even if the government disagrees with what they have to say -- and that violation of that right will have serious consequences for Malaysia's international reputation," it said.
A government minister also was quoted by Malaysian media Tuesday as saying Bersih could be slapped with a 65,000-ringgit ($16,000) bill for post-demonstration clean-up.
Previous Bersih rallies have ended in clashes with police but the weekend protests were largely incident-free.
The scandal comes just as Malaysia's economic growth outlook has weakened due to falling prices for the oil and other commodities it exports.
Its ringgit currency has plummeted around 30 percent over the past year.
Economists blame the ringgit's woes on the economic outlook and China's recent currency devaluation, but also cite political concerns stemming from the corruption suspicions.
Ratings agency Moody's said Tuesday the uncertainty would "chip away" at Malaysia's growth outlook and Fitch Ratings described it as "credit negative".
But both ruled out a credit rating downgrade -- which would harm the government's ability to raise capital -- citing Malaysia's relatively solid fundamentals.
Source: Agence France Presse
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