Asia’s best debater Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman today slammed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as a “national disgrace”.

In a Facebook post today, the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) student asked how much more could Malaysians take in light of lawyer Matthias Chang’s arrest today under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma).

“First you unjustly and arbitrarily detain a politician. Now you're going after his lawyer as well?” he questioned referring to Chang’s as well as his client, Umno man Khairuddin Abu Hassan’s arrests.

“Sosma was designed to detain terrorists who pose a direct threat to our national security, not to suppress dissenters!” Syed Saddiq fumed.

Admitting he once defended the need for the country to adopt the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota), he said he is now, however, almost certain that this too will also be misused in the future to arbitrarily detain political dissenters.

“I guess you really do not care about the trust-deficit which you're facing or the prospects of Malaysia sinking together with you.

“In the end, it's all about you and not about Malaysia. That's a national disgrace. You are a national disgrace,” he said.

The 23-year-old further questioned how Najib could resolve the trust-deficit when he was plagued with various issues.

'Continuous intimidation'

“You expelled your vocal colleagues (former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and former minister Shafie Apdal), you derailed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), you arbitrarily dismissed the attorney-general (Abdul Gani Patail). You interfered in MACC affairs through continuous intimidation.

“You suppressed news portals which unravelled the scandal, you quashed dissenters through a law intended for terrorists, you haven't sued foreign newspapers which you claimed that you would, the list continues…” he pointed out.

Syed Saddiq came under the spotlight after his Facebook post telling off Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s daughter, Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid, went viral.

He had reminded Nurulhidayah, who had condemened the Bersih 4 protestors, that freedom of speech was not only the right of the elite.