ON the eve of his visit to the United States, Prime Minister Najib Razak lashed out at the opposition whom he accused of trying to blacken Malaysia’s name in the American media with the “wild claim” that the country was in danger of sliding into a dictatorship.

On his blog today, Najib made the counter claim that it was the opposition who lacked respect for the tradition of democracy in the country, and that democracy and freedom of speech had survived in spite of the despot in the former administration who was now the opposition leader, in reference to former prime minister and Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He said the opposition leader had himself owned up to being a dictator during his 22 years in power.

“And it is true that when he was prime minister, hundreds of people were summarily locked up under the Internal Security Act. Newspapers, including a major national daily, were closed.  

“The judiciary was attacked. Crony capitalism was rife, with deals made that significantly burden the people today. People had no right to demonstrate, and students were not allowed to participate in politics,” Najib wrote.

In contrast, he said, democracy had flourished under the current leadership which had the “great political courage” to “do the right thing” by removing “outdated and repressive pieces of legislation”.

“… under my government, it (democracy) has been strengthened with the most far-reaching reforms since independence. We repealed the ISA – and ended the State of Emergency that had existed for over 60 years.

“We increased media freedom by scrapping restrictions on newspaper publishing licenses. We reformed the Universities and University Colleges Act to allow undergraduates to participate in political activities.”

Najib said the opposition, however, had tried to make out in the American press that critics of the government were “routinely imprisoned”. 

“They and their allies have sought to blacken our country’s name in the American media, making a series of wild claims, culminating in the false claim that Malaysia is in danger of sliding into dictatorship.

Yet, the opposition’s very freedom to openly and vigorously criticise the government was proof of free speech in Malaysia, said Najib.

“The opposition are welcome to do so (criticise the government), and they do indeed do so, as Malaysians know from regular reports on both traditional and new media.

“But falsely running down Malaysia’s vibrant democracy and spreading smears and falsehoods about this government in foreign newspapers just for political gain is another matter. 

“That does not show pride in what we have achieved. Nor does it demonstrate love of our country. And that is what should be uniting us now as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of independence and look back on the milestones that have made Malaysia the diverse, harmonious and confident country it is today.”

The prime minister will leave for the US tomorrow, where he will visit the White House at the invitation of President Donald Trump. – September 2, 2017.