Suaram adviser Kua Kia Soong today labelled those wishing Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be prime minister again, as “walking dead democrats”.

“A few in politics may have forgiven him...but he used Operasi Lalang as pretext for an assault on the judiciary and allowed Malaysia’s democratic institutions to deteriorate (when he was prime minister).

“Mahathir today is a ‘born-again democrat’ while those who want him to be prime minister are ‘walking dead democrats’,” Kua, who was among over 106 people detained without trial under the controversial Ops Lalang in 1987, said at the launch of the 2016 Suaram Human Rights Report on Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) this morning...