“I don't have a 'side' - I'm responsible for what I say and nothing else.”

- Glenn Greenwald

The following is the second part of an interview with Hakam president Ambiga Sreenevasan. The first part appeared yesterday .

How do you counter the perception that this declaration and the support of civil society personalities provides a fig leaf for the excesses of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tenure and gives public legitimacy to what is essentially a fight within a political party - Umno?

It is naïve, I think, to say that this is just an Umno fight and does not concern us. This is about the prime minister of the country who is facing a huge financial scandal. It impacts the whole nation. Furthermore, what happens in Umno matters to all of us. They decide who the prime minister is and many members of the cabinet are from Umno.

I think countering the perception you speak of will have to come from what we achieve with the Citizens’ Declaration. And of course our own conduct and what we project is important. We must give people the confidence that we will never give up on the reform agenda.

One must also look at the contents of the declaration . Is there anything there that is objectionable? Does it not contain some of the demands of Bersih at the rally last year? Maybe there could have been more in the declaration, but what it contains can be supported. There is nothing there to disagree with...