The amount of petitions coming in from the Malaysian people this GE14 has really been interesting, in fact, we’ve had four on Change.org since the change in government. Clearly, the rakyat feel more empowered in their rights as citizens and their ability to bring change, more so since the historic change in power.
The first petition was launched on May 19 after the new Education Minister was announced. It was supposed to be Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad but amidst criticism, the position was assigned to Dr Maszlee Malik. Two separate petitions surfaced from there, one of it asked Dr Mahathir to retain the Education portfolio while another supported Dr Mazslee Malik. The third petition was seen on Monday (May 21), which requested Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to ban controversial preacher Zakir Naik from Malaysia.
This latest and fourth one, is a little extra special.
Source: Change.org
Now, Malaysians are petitioning for Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, our Prime Minister, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Started by Alexandria Abishegam just one day ago, she has petitioned this to the Nobel Foundation. The petition has since been signed by more than 42,000 people at time of publication and the amount keeps increasing.
“This petition is to nominate our twice nominated Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his determination at age 93 to return to politics. He cast aside his own political prejudices to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Opposition parties and leaders such as Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Mohamad Sabu and others to save our nation,” the description read.
Source: Dinmerican
Many Malaysians who have hoped for a change in the government celebrated when the Barisan Nasional government was toppled by the then opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan, who was helmed by Dr. Mahathir. The petition praises him for being a “Giant of a Man” for admitting his mistakes and how he inspired Malaysians to make a change by just voting.Â
He was also lauded for ensuring that the transition of power was done in a smooth and peaceful way. The petition reads, “Tun Dr Mahathir is akin to the ‘Nelson Mandela’ of Malaysia. For helming a peaceful transfer of power and now specifically stating that the new administration was not out to ‘seek revenge’.”
Source: Malaysia Chronicle
“For giving millions of us ordinary Malaysians hope, renewed faith and most important of all ‘PRIDE’ in our Malaysia, I urge all of you to support this nomination of Tun Dr Mahathir for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize,” the petition ends on this note.
While some netizens are happily and enthusiastically signing the petition, others are a lot more cynical about the whole thing as they feel that there are other more deserving candidates. The Nobel peace prize has been won by Malala Yousofzai and Nelson Mandela, among others.
What do you think of this petition? Should Dr. Mahathir be a nominee for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize?
Also read: Petition Aims to Get 1 Million People to Thank Najib, Only 7,000 Signed So Far
