by Art Harun
Breaking Views
Malaysian Insider
September 17, 2010

SEPT 17 — I refer to a post at Rocky’s Bru titled “The irrational fear of Perkasa”.

Perkasa.

What does that name evoke? Fear? Unlikely.

To me and many others, that name is almost comical and tragic at the same time, quite in the same mould as Roberto Benigni’s “Life is beautiful,” only that the later was poignant and sorrowful, rather than tragic.

Perkasa is comical in the way it — through its leader, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, and its various extras whose names I do not even care to remember — went around calling people who do not agree with its views names. YB Khairy Jamaluddin knows about this well. Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz also knows about this very well.

Whenever Perkasa’s views are opposed or criticised, Perkasa has been unable to counter such opposition or criticism. When Perkasa cannot rebut another’s opinion, what would it do? Yes, it will attack the person who expresses the opinion rather than the opinion itself.

And so, Khairy Jamaludin was a “stupid”, “crazy”, “feeble-minded” and a “confused child”. According to Datuk Ibrahim Ali. And not to mention “mentally ill.”

Just look at one full sentence by Datuk Ibrahim Ali about YB Khairy, “This is the talk of a stupid, brainless person. He is talking like a crazy person.”

Then, who could forget the “s***, s***, s***” Al-Jazeera interview? In full view of an international audience, Perkasa’s real ugly, uncouth, unrefined and even uncivilised nature revealed itself. It was comical.

And it is tragic. It is tragic because the international community may think — and I am sure they do think — that Malaysians in general are as uncouth as these Perkasa creatures. And that, my friends, is an insult to Malaysia and to all Malaysians.

It is also an insult to the prime minister because, as I am told, he has a voracious appetite for knowledge and is an avid reader. And what an insult would be to the prime minister if the international community thinks that Malaysians are generally uncouth because of that Al-Jazeera interview with Datuk Ibrahim Ali.

Ah, let’s not forget about all the police reports.

That Perkasa is only able to shout and scream slogans and misleading statements about rights which do not exist is exemplified by its inability to accept YB Nurul Izzah’s polite, but firm, invitation to debate on the purview of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.

Perkasa’s response — and no less than Minister Datuk Seri Sharizat Jalil’s response (I am addressing her as a Minister in a loose sense) — to YB Nurul Izzah’s clear articulation on the subject matter was taken right from the first line of the first Chapter of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s guidelines to a discourse, namely, twist and hijack the issue.

This they did by saying YB Nurul Izzah had “challenged” Article 153. When, in fact, she did nothing of that sort.

By twisting — and thereby, hijacking — the real issue, they hoped to make YB Nurul look bad. To challenge Article 153 would make YB Nurul anti-Malay “rights” and, therefore, anti-Malay. How convenient.

This tactic has been employed so many times. Ustaz Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, the former Perlis mufti, of course, is branded as a “Wahabbi” and therefore anti-Islam. Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is, of course, an “alcoholic” and therefore is unfit. Haris Ibrahim is a “liberal-secularist” and, therefore, he is also anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-whatever.

What YB Nurul was trying to do was to set out the REAL provisions of Article 153. She never challenged it. To challenge it would mean she was asking that that article ought to be repealed or amended. But she was not doing that.

Since she “challenged” Article 153, according to these real smart people, she has committed an offence. The standard offence nowadays is, of course, the dreaded “S” offence. No, it’s not sodomy. It is sedition.

And so Perkasa had to lodge a police report against YB Nurul. And then they would take pictures of themselves while holding the police report.

That’s the standard operating procedure.

The new IGP should come down hard on this kind of police reports. It wastes the police’s time and the tax payers’ money. The police have many other more important things to do. Like investigating murders, corruption, breaches of trust, drug trafficking and taking care of the traffic during the festivities. Not to spend time on all these totally moronic police reports.

But then again, that’s Perkasa. Nothing more and nothing less.

And now, YB KJ, Minister Nazri, Minister Khalid and Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, the secretary general of Umno, have come out to distance Umno from Perkasa. These are big people. Not some cikus from Umno. Can we take it, then, that Umno now does not want to be associated with — and is not associated with — Perkasa?

I think we can make that conclusion.

Well at least I will make that conclusion, personally.

The prime minister wants change. He wants to transform Malaysia and the Malays in general. He wants the Malays to stop being spoon-fed, and to promote meritocracy. Of course he is not doing away with affirmative action just yet, because he recognises the needs for such actions.

However, I believe the prime minister wants to change the way the affirmative action is being implemented. He wants to introduce a semblance of accountability to it. A certain level of defined methodology rooted in meritocracy.

But I also believe he is facing a revolt from within his own party about what he wants to do, particularly the way he wants to redefine the affirmative action and its methodology. Sometimes, the perception is that even his own deputy is against him on this.

And of course we have Dr Mahathir, who is dead against the prime minister’s well-intented moves. And Perkasa — like Dr Mahathir — is also dead against it. In fact, personally, it is my perception that Perkasa is just echoing Dr Mahathir.

No, not echoing. Parroting him. Yes, that’s more apt.

So, it is high time that Umno, as a party, puts a stop to these insidious counter-movements against its own president, who happens to be our prime minister. He needs full support of Umno for this much needed — if a bit radical to the Malays — change which he intends to introduce. And he also needs support from the Barisan Nasional component parties.

This support has not been forthcoming. MCA is too lame to do anything. MIC is mired in internal problems. As for the others, I do not even know their names to begin with.

The statements by YB KJ and gang wouldn’t have come at a better time for the prime minister.

However, I note with a bit of puzzlement, that no such statement has been forthcoming from the likes of Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Husseun, Datuk Seri Shafie Afdal, the Wanita Umno chief, Datuk Seri Rais Yatim and other top leaders of Umno.

And so it makes me wonder what Umno’s official stand on Perkasa is.

But one thing is clear.

To many, Perkasa is not feared. Let alone irrationally feared.

What is feared is what Perkasa and its ilk represent.

And I don’t think there is any need for me to spell out what they represent.