Former inspector-general of police Hanif Omar must retract the damaging accusations he made against electoral reform movement Bersih if he insists on heading the government's panel.

Hanif has to recuse himself from the proceedings and the panel should be scrapped, since his independence is questionable after he blatantly "demonised" Bersih 3.0 rally, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said today.

NONE "For the past month, the government has launched a high-level campaign to vilify and demonise Bersih 3.0 and Pakatan Rakyat, and the panel is regarded as an key part of this 'demonisation' campaign.

"Hanif himself played an important role in the demonisation campaign from the very beginning, when he gave blind and unthinking support to the wild allegation by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak that the Bersih 3.0 rally was a coup d'etat attempt by the opposition to topple the government," Lim (photo) said.

The former IGP had said that the rally was similar to the "tactics of the communists" and claimed that pro-communist individuals had taken part in the rally.

The panel, which met for the first time today, abruptly called off the its scheduled press conference.

This, said Lim, was "eloquent proof" that Hanif and the panel members were aware that they did not enjoy public confidence in investigating human rights violations at the rally.

'Hanif has missed the point'

NONE "How can Hanif live down these highly prejudicial views on Bersih 3.0 unless he is going to retract and repudiate them?

"In defending his appointment and reiterating today that his track record has proven that he acts with integrity, Hanif has missed the point altogether," said Lim.

However, if Hanif refused to step down, Lim said, the former IGP should take the stand as the "star witness" in the probe to substantiate his highly prejudicial views.

"If no evidence is found in the probe, is Hanif prepared to declare publicly that both the prime minister and he himself were wrong in alleging that the Bersih 3.0 rally was an attempted coup d'etat by the opposition to topple the government?

"Now, with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad taking the demonisation campaign to a new pitch with his preposterous allegation that the Bersih 3.0 rally was a preparation and warm-up by Pakatan for violent demonstrations to reject the results of the 13th general election should the opposition fail to win it, public distrust and rejection of the Hanif panel is even stronger," Lim said.

He reiterated that Najib should instead abolish the panel and fully back the Human Rights Commission's (Suhakam's) public inquiry into the rally.