IPOH, Dec 22 — After calls for minister P. Waytha Moorthy to resign over the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, several Malay groups here have now demanded for even Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to step down.
Tens of members from a number of Malay groups, including the incendiary Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) and Gagasan 3, held a gathering at the Padang Ipoh here wearing mostly black.
The gathering which started around 2pm, had repeatedly chanted “undur, undur, Mahathir undur” (Malay for ‘step back, step back, Mahathir step back’).
In his speech, frequent critic of Dr Mahathir, JMM president Datuk Azwanddin Hamzah said the prime minister should resign if he cannot fulfill the request of some Malays demanding to sack the minister in charge of national unity and social wellbeing.
“I don’t want to mention the name, but the ‘pariah’ minister should resign immediately. If he doesn’t want to resign, then Mahathir should sack him,” he said, in a veiled reference to Waytha.
“If Mahathir can’t do that, then he should step down as the prime minister. We will continue to gather until our demands are fulfilled.”
Azwanddin also urged action against developer One City Development Sdn Bhd and their lawyers. The firm has since denied its involvement in the riots.
“Why no action has been taken on them until today? … They are also responsible for the death of Adib,” he claimed.
He also repeated the calls for Putrajaya to form a Royal Commission of Inquiry to probe the case.
Yesterday, a coalition of Perak Malay-Muslim groups called Jalinan Bersatu Sahabat Perak (Jabat) had also made the same call.
Last month, Azwanddin and Gagasan 3’s chairman Ragvinder Singh Jess and deputy chairman Amran Ahmad Nor were among those investigated by the police following reports of allegedly incendiary speeches made by them.
JMM is advising Gagasan 3, which was formed last month with the sole intention of “declaring war” on Pakatan Harapan (PH) component, DAP, claiming the latter is the dominant voice in Putrajaya.
