– Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 02, 2011
JUNE 2 — This is a serious question. Will we vote for Ibrahim Ali?
I believe this is a relevant question for Malaysians to ponder because with each passing day this Perkasa mouthpiece seems to have pushed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and other Cabinet ministers from the mainstage of decision-making and politics.
After watching the local political scene for a few months, we can conclude a few things: Ibrahim is Umno and Umno loves Ibrahim.
Najib is scared of upsetting Ibrahim and Perkasa, probably out of some fear that the right-wing group can influence the outcome of how Malays vote and/or concern that not bowing to Ibrahim’s wishes will upset Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, supporter and patron of Perkasa.
Ibrahim has an inordinate influence in government, not proportionate to his intelligence or his standing as a so-called “independent” MP.
In recent weeks, Perkasa has forced Najib to change the pre-qualification criteria for the MRT contract and allow untested and probably politically-connected contractors to be able to bid for the lucrative contracts. Just imagine, this is like the office peon telling the company CEO who should be allowed to bid for a project.
And now Ibrahim is warning Najib against allowing UDA to go ahead and develop the former Pudu Jail land.
This is coming in the wake of Ibrahim threatening a crusade against Christians for a non-existent plot to take over the country. (Incidentally, are the police still investigating the case or have they decided to give Utusan Malaysia/Perkasa/Umno bloggers a free pass).
Then there was the threat by Ibrahim to hammer MCA for speaking out on the scholarship fiasco.
In every one of the episodes listed, Ibrahim either has been supported by Umno openly or has been allowed to molest the constitution and the decency of Malaysians by the inaction of Najib.
So in the final analysis I have to surmise that Ibrahim represents Umno and the party’s worldview.
So by extention, a vote for Ibrahim is a vote for Umno and a vote for Umno is a vote for Ibrahim.
Will you vote for Ibrahim Ali?
#1 by Jeffrey on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 8:29 am
Lucious Goon thinks Ibrahim represents Umno and the party’s worldview, a vote for Ibrahim is a vote for Umno. To think UMNO = Perkasa is dangerously miscalculate Perkasa/Ibrahim’s role/agenda. Even if many or even majority of UMNO’s members support Perkasa’s agenda, and even UMNO’s top leader acquiesces with Ibrahim’s upstaging him, it still does not mean Perkasa represents UMNO or is just a more extremist swing or offshoot of UMNO.
UMNO is the ruling party that controls and dominates the government. Why would it need Perkasa to help it secure Malay rights? Aren’t these protected by Constitution and within the vast power of UMNO to secure? It is simplistic to think that UMNO will ever abandon the Malay agenda and hasn’t the power to maintain bumiputra rights, except under pretext of another NGO like Perkasa.
#2 by Jeffrey on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 8:41 am
Perkasa is vehicle for certain vested interests – one only has to ask who’s its patron- it is to protect Mahathir legacy to pressure UMNO against its re-invention. It is an arbiter of power, and holds the balance of power to ensure UMNO does its bidding. For UMNO, being head of government, can’t just afford to just think or be seen as thinking of one section of community without some semblance of representative support from the rest and the good of the country as a whole. It has that responsibility. Besides UMNO has to calculate the extent of backlash in GE if it loses the votes of all other communities. It is something Perkasa is not so constrained to think about. That it is a serious contending power player is evinced by its seeking to form its own brigade. Superficially it’s convenient to dismiss it as an offshoot of UMNO or that UMNO uses it to advance its political agenda. In truth it is Perkasa that seeks control of UMNO’s political agenda and, as a pressure group, ensures that it conforms to its bid whatever the repercussions that UMNO alone – not Perkasa- has to face. In time it ould be even independent of its patron’s bid. Thats something for political observers of the country to think about when they simply equate Perkasa to UMNO.
#3 by monsterball on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 9:29 am
It looks like Ibrahim Ali have more guts than Najib.
It looks like Ali…speak his mind up with no help from his wife.
It looks like..Ali is better than Najib as UMNO B President.
#4 by undertaker888 on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 9:31 am
I will vote for him. I’ll vote for him to get a heart attack. I’ll vote for him to be in kamunting. I’ll vote for him to be struck by a bolt of lightning. Yeah.
#5 by wanderer on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 9:35 am
Ibrahim Ali the “lovable racist [deleted]” is just one of the machais sniffing the blowhole of the Indian man from Kerala…together with the 1Melayu, they hope to fulfill his dream…the rise of a potential mamak kutty Jr. The same old trick playing the racist card in a different tune!
As for UMNO, it is a love and hate feelings for this empty vessel, they know too well who this SOB works for….
#6 by wanderer on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 9:39 am
Monsterball your comments were very tame these days. Come on, don’t be put off by the moderator, I now you have more guts than Najib….not sure about Fat Mama!
#7 by k1980 on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 9:59 am
//I will vote for him. I’ll vote for him to get a heart attack. I’ll vote for him to be in kamunting. I’ll vote for him to be struck by a bolt of lightning.//
And I will do the undertaking of him for free, as the Americans did for Osama’s sea burial.
#8 by tak tahan on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 10:48 am
This moderater is really putting people off!
#9 by Cinapek on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 11:45 am
IA is nothing more than an opportunist that managed to reinvent himself by taking advantage of the decline in UMNO’s popularity. In Perkasa he found a stage to promote himself and in the mamak king, he found a fellow opportunist that has his own agenda to push after he was sidelined during the AAB administration. At least in this respect, AAB has more balls than Najib. AAB did try to stand up to the mamak king, much more than we can say for Najib.
When IA threw in his lot with Semangat 46 and Tengku Razaleigh/Musa faction in the ’80s he was opportunistically hoping to ride on their bandwagon. For this the mamak king threw him into the political wilderness. When the ROS declare UMNO illegal, IA was going around town boasting he will be riding into power with Semangat and bad mouthing the mamak king. Yet today he is toadying to the mamak king because they knew they need each other. The mamak king is not stupid either. He is using IA and his clown act for his own agenda. The two are like two porcupines making love. Both of them will be hurt eventually.
#10 by Jeffrey on Friday, 3 June 2011 - 1:15 pm
One of the porcupine already publicly slams “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi” saying that it will deepen the schism/polarisation between races but the other decides it will carry on nonetheless. Its the porcupine dilemma poupularised by Arthur Schopenhauer and Sigmund Freud about the challenges of human intimacy/collaboration. Porcupines have to come close to one another in order to share heat during cold weather but they prick each other, so that they must remain apart, feel the biting cold come back again for the pain, to and fro until the optimal distance is reached, of not too far apart to feel the intense cold and too near to feel the heat of pain!
#11 by cemerlang on Saturday, 4 June 2011 - 11:24 pm
Looks like there is a new party. It is called Perkasa. Now you have many choices of Malay parties. From UMNO to PAS to Perkasa. Take your pick.
#12 by novice101 on Sunday, 5 June 2011 - 1:31 am
Najib is definitely afraid to upset Mahathir. Ibrahim Ali is Mahathir’s man. How did Ibrahim Ali got himself appointed a director in Berjaya Group in the past? Who is Vincent Tan’s good friend?
#13 by cemerlang on Sunday, 5 June 2011 - 12:14 pm
Sifu mah…