Ambiga lets it all out: Najib endorsed threats against me, I had to hire a bodyguard

In a shocking development, Ambiga Sreenevasan, the well-respected chairman of the Bersih 2.0 movement for free and fair elections, accused Prime Minister Najib Razak of endorsing threats against her safety.
This took place during the run-up to the Bersih's July 9 rally in Kuala Lumpur last year, Ambiga told the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) on Wednesday.
“There were calls to strip me of my citizenship, attacks by state-controlled media and I believe that all this was condoned by the government,” said Ambiga.


Umno gangsters
She described the "horrifying" experiences and revealed that she had feared for her personal safety from "state actors and non-state actors alike", in a thinly-veiled reference to Najib's ruling Umno party, and its sister organisations such as Perkasa and Pertubuhan Seni Silat Lincah Malaysia, a Malay martial arts association.

Ambiga, the former Bar Council president, cited a report from The Malaysian Insider news portal which quoted Najib as supporting the PSSLM.
"I believe, if there are evil enemies who want to attack the country from without and within, 'anak-anak lincah' will rise to fight them,” Najib was reported to have said two days before the rally.
Ambiga also pointed out that on July 2, Najib had labelled her as a “threat to Islam”.
“Who doesn’t know Ambiga. She’s the one who threatened Islam. And below her is Mat Sabu,” said Ambiga, reading out Najib’s quotes. Mat Sabu is the popular PAS deputy president, whom Umno has been trying hard to discredit.

Yet Najib touts moderation before the Global Movement of Moderates
According to Ambiga, she was also accused of being supportive of apostates and accused of representing Muslim convert Azlina Jailani or better known as Lina Joy, who sued the BN government for refusing to legally recognize her reversion to Christianity.
Indeed, Ambiga's testimony before Suhakam has raked up memories of a Jekyll and Hyde Najib administration. Just earlier this week, Najib propounded grandiose visions of a peaceful world led by a Global Movement of Moderates.
"Indeed history has shown us the greater civilisation had to overcome greater struggles.  However at this critical juncture of our material progress, although conflicts and clashes persist, the room for dialogue and peaceful co-existence have grown even broader. Hence it is imperative that we incorporate a vision of mutual trust based on a mixture of methodical arguments and normative aspirations," he told the inaugural International Conference on the Global Movement of Moderates.

About-face to his own countrymen
However, in about-face to his own countrymen, Najib shows a completely different dimension, as Ambia - the recipient of the US Women of Courage Award and France's Knight of the Legion of Honour - testified today.
She submitted news reports and clippings as well as copies of ‘public service announcements’ over government-owned Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) “demonising Bersih”. The racist Perkasa had even burned pictures of her, widely distributing leaflets describing her as a dangerous Hindu woman or ‘Awas! Ambiga wanita Hindu yang berbahaya’.
Ambiga reminded Suhakam that Perkasa had also warned the Chinese against joining the rally, asking them to stay home and “stock up on food”, in reference to the Emergency imposed during the racial riots in 1969.
“However, until today none of them have been charged, maybe called in for a statement, but that’s about it. Nothing happened although it was an open threat of criminal intimidation," said Ambiga.

Bodyguard
So desperate was Najib to discredit her that she was also accused of being a front for Christian, Jewish and other foreign groups - all at the same time - and receiving funds from them.
“I was given the impression that my accounts were being investigated. If they were, the authorities till today have no decency to clear me of the accusations," said Ambiga.
When asked by Suhakam vice-chairperson and panel head Khaw Lake Tee, how she felt during that period of crisis. Indeed, there were Umno bloggers who even called for her to be raped if she did not toe the line. There were also constant fears that her mobile phone was tapped.
“Well it didn’t make me happy. It was very discomforting. I was absolutely horrified at the extent they would go to stop the rally. There was a clear intention to cause me harm. That’s why I had to hire a bodyguard upon my family’s insistence,” she said.
Malaysia Chronicle