NAZRI AZIZ, WHAT SAY YOU

US State Dept official defends peaceful Malaysia protests

(AFP)--The U.S. underscored Wednesday the rights of Malaysians to hold peaceful protests, after Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's government swiftly suppressed mass rallies and threatened to use a draconian law to detain protesters indefinitely without trial.
"We believe citizens of any country should be allowed to peacefully assemble and express their views," a U.S. State Department official said when commenting on the crackdown of unprecedented street protests in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur this month.
One called for electoral reform which drew some 30,000 people, and another by at least 8,000 ethnic Indians last Sunday was aimed at highlighting racial discrimination.
The rallies were the biggest in a decade and took place despite bans ordered by police, who broke up the gatherings with tear gas, water cannons and baton charges.
The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not go beyond his succinct statement, which was the first reaction by Washington on the rare outpouring of anti-government dissent in Malaysia.
The protests led to a veiled threat by Abdullah on Tuesday to use the controversial Internal Security Act that allows for detention without trial to stem the dissent.
U.S. intelligence consultancy Stratfor, in a bulletin to clients this week, said the Malaysian demonstrations signaled "instability" ahead of national elections expected early next year.
"The recent demonstrations signal chaos and unpredictability to come before elections are announced, but Badawi's grip on internal security is not going to loosen any time soon," it said.

tunku : well nazri, what are you waiting for, tell them off too, you were like a hero with tamil nadu'cm,what about uncle sam? let us see whether you have the guts or not.
on the other issue, zainudin maidin had said it earlier during the bersih rally when he was interviewed by al jazeera, and today you said the same thing again during your press conference that malaysia is not like myanmar,thailand or pakistan,we are more democratic bla bla bla. yes we know that we are more democratic compared to them but how could you ministers can say such thing to other countries?have they said anything bad about us? i guess not,so please stop mentioning names next time.you can just say that some countries, not mentioning which country.i hope the pm will send this two ministers for a diplomacy course.