Toe the line, Najib tells Waytha

 

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today said Senator P Waythamoorthy should toe the government line as the latter is a member of the government.

"As a member of the government, you must be toe the line, you must have one voice," he said curtly during a press conference at his office in Putrajaya.

Najib's statement comes in the wake of three of his cabinet ministers urging Waythamoorthy's resignation after the latter released statements questioning police action.

Waythamoorthy was handpicked by Najib to be appointed as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Previously, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, and Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had all asked Waythamoorthy to resign from his position if he can’t toe the government line.

The urgings came after Waythamoorthy openly questioned the police’s conduct in shooting dead five suspected gangsters, all of Indian descent, in Sungai Nibong, Penang last week.

Waythamoorthy leads the Indian rights NGO Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia after returning from exile in the United Kingdom late last year.

He went on a hunger strike for either BN or Pakatan Rakyat to sign Hindraf’s blueprint prior to the May 5 general election, and Najib finally agreed to sign the blueprint in April this year.

Following a public signing ceremony for the blueprint, Waythamoorthy (right) instructed Hindraf and its followers to campaign for BN in the May 5 general election, where BN won, though without a two-thirds majority.

After the election, Waythamoorthy was appointed a senator and subsequently appointed as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department by Najib, meant to oversee Indian welfare issues.

Waythamoorthy previously vowed to step down if he is unable to fulfill his goals of being in the government - which is to improve the welfare of Indians.