KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 – Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz today thanked the foreign media for their wide coverage of both the Bersih 4 and Sept 16 red shirt rallies, saying this helped the government to save on funds to promote tourism.
“So I want to thank CNN, Al Jazeera and BBC for showing every day, every hour the yellow shirts gathering which protested against the prime minister. We got advertisement valued at billions and this also showed that Malaysia practises democracy and allowed a demonstration to be held against a sitting prime minister,” he said referring to global news organisations and the colour worn by Bersih 4 participants.
Nazri said in reply to a supplementary question from Liang Teck Meng (BN-Simpang Renggam) in the Dewan Rakyat today that he have saved billions of money to advertise (Malaysia) through this ‘healthy’ demonstration. Meanwhile, the organised by electoral reforms coalition Bersih 2.0, the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally held from August 29 to 30 demanded institutional reforms, and called for the resignation of Datuk Seri Najib Razak over alleged financial scandals.
Najib has been under fire over the RM2.6 billion “donation” from an unknown Middle Eastern benefactor that went into his personal accounts. At the same time, his brainchild, state-owned investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), is facing multiple probes over alleged financial irregularities.
The Bersih 4 rally was followed by the “red shirt” rally on September 16 organised by several Malay groups. The red shirt rally, however, saw racially charged banners used against Chinese Malaysians. Nazri said the rallies would not affect Malaysia’s tourism as visitors from the West and some Eastern countries are used to such demonstration.
“Tourists from countries like the United States, Europe, Japan or Korea are used to demonstrations as they happen in their countries everyday, so no problem. We also have the Peaceful Assembly Act which allowed for peaceful gathering. So if a tourist is from a country where demonstrations are taking place everyday, why should they be worried? It’s normal,” he said.
Besides that, the Umno minister also said that Malaysia is set to be a developed country by 2020, and as such freedom of expression cannot be stopped. He added that they will also have the Bill of Guarantees where they have to pledged no online censorship.
