Citizens' Declaration does not represent 30 million Malaysians - Salleh

The Citizens' Declaration signed by 58 individuals does not represent 30 million Malaysians or 15 million Malaysian voters, but merely a document seeking the ouster of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak said the declaration was merely an excuse they were hiding behind to justify what they were doing.

"They seem to forget that there is a mechanism to do something like that and that mechanism is called general elections," he said in his posting in his blog, sskeruak.blogspot.com on Saturday.

Salleh said amongst those 58 were also some retired politicians, police officers and government officers, plus some who called themselves civil society leaders, and that in truth, the event was all hype and nothing more.

He also said that the so-called Citizens Declaration was merely a recycled document from the one done in 1998 and another in 2008.

"No doubt they may say this a blueprint for reforms, but it is not really a blueprint or masterplan as it is a list of aspirations and desires," said Salleh.

He said the Citizens' Declaration is what they would like to see rather than a plan on how to achieve these aspirations.

"In other words, they offer us no solutions. Furthermore, these aspirations differ depending on who you talk to, with one person saying one thing and another saying the opposite," he said.

Salleh said while they have attempted to make yesterdays event look like a platform to seek reforms and change, in reality it was a union of all those opposed to Najib.

"What they really wanted was to create the impression that the move to oust the Prime Minister is being backed by the majority of the rakyat (1/8people). This, of course, is not true, the 58 individuals are not representative of 30 million Malaysians.

"It is not even representative of 15 million Malaysian voters, Yes, we do have Wakil Rakyat (elected representatives), almost 800 Members of Parliament and State Assembly persons to be exact and they are the legitimate representatives who were voted into office by the people during the general and state elections," he said.