A Facebook petition has seen more than 170,000 people backing a call for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to quit, days after an electoral reform rally was broken up by police firing tear gas and water cannons.

The page titled '100,000 People Request Najib Tun Razak Resignation' was set up last Saturday, the same day police arrested nearly 1,700 people during the mass protest in Kuala Lumpur.

bersih rally petaling street 090711Backed by opposition parties, electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 mobilised thousands of people to hit the streets in the biggest rally in four years, piling pressure on Najib, with elections widely expected next year.

Following the demonstration, the page attracted around 300 "likes" a minute, hitting its 100,000 target early Monday and the number has been steadily increasing, with the page showing 172,868 "likes" this morning.

"I don't understand why the harshness, the beatings (by police) and the tear gas," says a posting on the page by supporter Sofie Muhammad.

"The crowd didn't even throw stones at the shops, why is the government afraid? All we want is free elections."

Others felt the prime minister was too far removed from what was happening on the ground.

"Najib is out of touch. He cannot understand pain of tear gas, irritation of chemical water, pain of being kicked and beaten up by (police)," said Longyao Phang in another posting.

Royal probe into electoral fraud

Bersih activists yesterday called for a royal probe into the electoral system that the opposition says favours Najib's BN coalition, which has ruled for half a century but saw its majority slashed in the 2008 general election.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said the push by concerned democracy activists "augurs well for the future of this country."

NONE"I would appeal to them to continue to monitor developments, exercise their right, have the courage of conviction to stand for what is right," Anwar said.

Najib, who is in Britain on an official visit, has accused Anwar of masterminding the rally and manipulating its organisers to beef up support for his ambition to become the next prime minister.

The premier and his administration have faced previous online attacks, one being a Facebook petition last October calling for a million Malaysians to reject plans for a 100-storey megatower in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysians are avid users of social network and micro-blogging sites.

A study by global research firm TNS last year showed Malaysians to be the most popular people on the Internet, with an average of 233 friends in their social networks, compared with 68 in China and just 29 in Japan.

- AFP

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