Boycott Perkasa events, Umno leaders told

(Malaysiakini) Penang-based Parti Cinta Malaysia has thrown its support behind Umno for disassociating the party from ultra-Malay rights group Perkasa.

Its vice-president Huan Cheng Guan said that all right-minded persons and groups should distance themselves from the organisation led by Pasir Mas parliamentarian Ibrahim Ali.

“Barisan Nasional, especially the Umno leadership, have to make it clear that Perkasa and Ibrahim do not have the backing of Umno if they want the support of the Chinese and other communities,” he told Malaysiakini.

“The Umno leadership must direct its assemblypersons, parliamentarians and division leaders not to participate in activities organised by Perkasa or sit in its committees,” added the former Gerakan vice-president.

“There should be a direct order from Umno's top management to the grassroots pertaining to their involvement in Perkasa,” he stressed.

Perkasa, which now claims to have 50,000 members, was formed in the aftermath of the 2008 general elections in a bid to protect the constitutional rights of the Malays. Many of its members are from Umno.

On Wednesday, the BN meeting in Putrajaya resolved that the coalition would cut ties with Perkasa as the activities of the right-wing group could be detrimental to the ruling coaltion's effort to win non-Malay support.

A number of top coalition leaders who attended the meeting had expressed reservations about Perkasa and urged Umno to state its position on the movement.

Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor subsequently promised his BN counterparts that his party will neither back Perkasa nor Ibrahim.

Najib, Dr M at Perkasa meetings

However, Ibrahim had scoffed at Umno's rebuff, claiming that he required no support from the party.

He said that Perkasa has solid backing of its thousands of members throughout the country and many other sympathisers who support its cause.

Umno leaders have previously given tacit support to Perkasa with both Prime Minister Najib Razak and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad speaking at its events.

Huan said Umno should not be overly worried about losing support from the pro-Perkasa Malays.

“Like it or not, Umno has to make a firm decision; you cannot be neither here nor there,” he said.

“We should go all out to fight against elements of chauvinism, extremism and racism as espoused by Perkasa and other radical groups, whose policies are diametrically opposed to the philosophy of Najib's 1Malaysia,” he stressed.