Embattled premier calls for unity on Malaysia’s Independence Day

Najib, King Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah and senior government officials attended the Independence Day parade in central Kuala Lumpur, where tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated over the weekend.”If we do not unite, if there is no solidarity and cohesiveness, problems cannot be resolved, in fact everything that we have painstakingly built so far will be destroyed,” he said in his nationally televised message on the eve of the Independence Day.

Najib took a swipe at the demonstration, calling it “improper” and “reflects a shallow mind and a poor spirit of nationalism.”

“We reject any form of street demonstration that can jeopardise public order and only inconvenience the people, because it does not at all reflect maturity, much less the proper channel to express views in a democratic country,” he said.

He vowed not to resign.

“Judge the government through the ballot box in the coming general election,” he said.

Najib has been under attack, even from within his ruling party, since a July report in the Wall Street Journal suggested that 673 million dollars in his accounts had been misappropriated from a state development fund.

The government denied the accusations, saying instead that the money was received as donations from unidentified sources in the Middle East.