27 February 2016•Update: 29 February 2016
By P Prem Kumar
KUALU LUMPUR
The day he was sacked by his party for failure to stick up for his embattled boss, Malaysia's former deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has labeled Prime Minister Najib Razak a "dictator" trying to rule the country by suppressing human rights.
Yassin claimed in a statement Saturday that Razak has misused his powers to suppress voices of opposition in Malaysia and subsequently silence them.
"We are currently witnessing a collapse of democratic institutional and an emerging dictator," he said, a day after being removed as deputy president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) -- a position he held since 2009.
UMNO is the major political party in an alliance that has ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957.
Yassin claimed his removal from an elected position was undemocratic and brokered by Razak due to personal vengeance and followed by the UMNO supreme council for the premier's favour.
In the past year, Yassin has continuously criticized Razak over the discovery of $681 million in his bank accounts later attributed to a political donation, and mass losses at state-owned investment vehicle 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
On Saturday, the ousted leader pledged to continue championing institutional reforms and upholding the truth for what he called "better governance in Malaysia".
For that purpose, he said institutional reforms must be more holistic as it was not enough to have the prime minister removed from office.
"All decision-making bodies' chiefs must not be appointed by King on the advice of the prime minister. The Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Central Bank and the police must all be left to perform their functions without anybody’s interference," he said in his statement.
Yassin underlined that the current law allows the prime minister to become very powerful and invincible before the law.
"He can commit any crime and escape punishment. This is unfair and is against the principle that all men are equal before the law," he said.
Yassin had been deputy prime minister since 2009, but was dropped in a cabinet reshuffle last July after openly questioning Razak about 1MDB.
In being sacked, Yassin joined imprisoned former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as the only two Malaysian deputy prime ministers sacked while holding positions.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has opened three investigations into Razak over the funds, and two into the finance ministry's SRC International -- a former subsidiary of debt-ridden 1MDB -- after international media released reports in July quoting documents from a probe into 1MDB – Razak's brainchild – that claimed that $700 million (or 2.67 billion Ringgit) from 1MDB ended up in Razak's accounts.
The premier responded to the allegations by insisting that he had not swindled funds for personal gain, be it from 1MDB, SRC International or other entities.
In August, the Attorney General's Chambers revealed that the funds were not from 1MBD, but political donations to the UMNO for the party to remain in power during the 13th General Election.
