KUALA LUMPUR: Two NGOs - Gerakan Pembela Ummah (Ummah) and Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) - together with Malay historian Zaharah Sulaiman - maintained they will bring at least 5,000 members to the solidarity gathering in front of Putrajaya's Palace of Justice on Monday (Jan 6).
In a media conference on Saturday (Jan 4), Ummah president Mohd Zai Mustafa said the 300-odd Malay NGOs under its umbrella will gather to urge the government to come clean on the existence of an alleged addendum decree by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, for Najib to serve out the remainder of his jail term under house arrest.
“This is not a Malay issue but a Malaysian issue, when the government top leader is suspected of not respecting the decree issued by a King.
“A royal decree is not something to be trifled with.
“We ask all Malaysians to join the solidarity gathering on Jan 6 to see for themselves if there was indeed an addendum decree or not for former premier Najib.
“We will support any decision by the courts as we support the legal process. Whatever punishment meted out to Najib which is decided by the courts on Monday, we will concede to that.
“The issue is why the alleged addendum decree which was issued by the former King Al-Sultan Abdullah is not explained clearly to the public.
“We only want to know if there is an addendum or not.
“There is a crisis of the government not respecting the said addendum decree by a King, when the son of Najib himself had put out his neck by dragging in the Palace and stated that an addendum had been issued for his father when Al-Sultan Abdullah was still the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong
“An addendum decree, if issued by the King, cannot be merely 'considered' by the Prime Minister, but it must be carried out.
“If it is proven there is indeed a decree on Jan 6, then it will be proven that the Prime Minister had been treacherous against the King by not carrying it out.
“We are not accusing anyone of manipulating the royal decree, but we only want to know if there is an addendum or not,” said Mohd Zai.
Perkasa president Syed Hasan Syed Ali said that his NGO members will gather on Monday, not because they are Najib’s supporters, but to see if there is indeed an additional royal decree which was not carried out by the current government.
“I am not a supporter of Najib, but many of our members are also Umno members.
“Perhaps when Najib is allowed to be under house arrest, some Umno leaders may feel threatened.
“This is why we feel that certain Umno leaders have issued the statement to say they will not join the solidarity gathering on Jan 6,” said Syed Hasan.
Zaharah said that there have been too many gag orders by the government over the issue.
“We are told by the government not to talk about the addendum as it may be sub judice.
“Tell us if there is an addendum for Najib or not - why are you hiding it? It is not a big thing.
“When the government leaders were in the opposition, they called for transparency, but there is no transparency (over the addendum). We are the people’s voices, listen to us,” said Zaharah.
The media conference came two days before the solidarity gathering planned for 9am Monday (Jan 6), in conjunction with the Court of Appeal’s hearing related to an alleged royal addendum order that will allow former premier Najib to serve the rest of his prison term under house arrest.
In a statement on Jan 3, Umno announced that it will withdraw from the gathering in line with the latest decree from Sultan Ibrahim.
"In line with the principle of upholding the decree of His Majesty the King and the directive from the Inspector-General of Police, Umno has decided not to proceed with the gathering scheduled for Jan 6, 2025," party secretary-general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said in the statement, which also expressed its full respect for King's prerogative as contained in Articles 42(1) and (2) of the Federal Constitution, which states the procedures for seeking a pardon.
