The Citizens' Declaration secretariat has reiterated that every effort has been made to remove dubious signatures in their petition to call for prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to be removed.
These efforts have paid off, its secretariat secretary Kamarudin Jaffar said pointing to over 1.27 million signatures it has gathered within two months of its launch.
The movement also categorically denied it had dealings with freelance programmer Azharuddin Othman or Syarul Ema Rena Abu Samah (known online as Ratu Naga).
“These are efforts to disparage the support of the rakyat for the Citizens' Declaration as well as to oppose those who are fighting for the reform agenda.
“The secretariat reiterates that it has undertaken efforts to remove dubious signatories. The updated verified online signatures received was at 1,071,997.
"We rejected a total of 253,505 because of duplication and incompleteness. The balance of 200,000 were collected as hard copies.
“Audit of the signatures received continues to be carried out to ensure their integrity and authenticity.
"The secretariat believes that what is eventually submitted to the Yang DiPertuan Agong must be worthy of the trust and burden of responsibility entrusted to us by the people who have signed the document,” Kamaruddin said in the statement.
He maintained the movement viewed that all those responsible for the grand corruption witnessed today, which is on an unprecedented scale, must be held accountable and brought to justice.
Kamaruddin called upon all Malaysians to stand up and speak out against corruption and abuse of power.
“We also urge all Malaysians to sign the Citizens’ Declaration, and help restore Malaysia's pride and honour in the eyes of the world.
“Above all, we repeat our call for Najib to step down so that the people's reform agenda can be advanced.
Statutory declaration and denial
It was reported on 26 May that Azharuddin made a statutory declaration claiming he was cheated over an alleged sale of 900,000 names from his database for use in the Citizens' Declaration, purportedly to boost the number of supporters.
Azharuddin, 30, alleged that he was contacted by an individual known as Ratu Naga on April 27, who had promised him RM5,000 in return for the names.
The database, he said, was one that was made available to all political parties during the 13th general election and contained particulars such as full names and MyKad numbers.
However, the programmer from Terengganu claimed he only received RM1,000 of the amount promised.
Syarul Ema meanwhile denies knowing Azharuddin and made an oath on the Quran to that effect.
Last Friday the secretariat was reported saying it would issue a statement today over Azharuddin's allegations, where Kamarudin said Syarul Ema (Ratu Naga) had denied knowing the accuser.
Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah meanwhile described the allegation as insignificant while Challenger's Change led by Young Generation spokesperson Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said it trivialises the work put in by thousands of Malaysians from all parts of society who had helped collect the signatures and spread the Save Malaysia message.
