Guan Eng: 1 Malaysia ‘irrelevant’ if Umno supports Perkasa

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21— Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng claimed today that the effort made by the Najib Administration to promote its 1 Malaysia slogan would be futile and “irrelevant” as long as Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) continued to support Perkasa.

Lim (picture) said that recent statements made by top Umno leaders urging the party to continue co-operating with Perkasa and all Malay NGOs that champion Malay and Bumiputera rights “reinforced Umno’s role of backing Perkasa.”

“The statement by Tan Sri Adam Kadir, the President of the Organisation of Former Umno Elected Representatives (Penawar) urging UMNO to continue its co-operation with Perkasa and all Malay NGOs that champion Malay and Bumiputera rights as enshrined Federal constitution reinforces UMNO’s role of backing the racist Perkasa. 1 Malaysia and BN’s consensus spirit are irrelevant as long as UMNO and BN fully support the racist Perkasa,” said Lim in a statement today.

Yesterday Penawar urged Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to apologise after the Umno secretary-general criticised Perkasa as racists, and followed Perkasa’s call in urging Umno to sack Tengku Adnan if he refused to apologise.

Today, Lim berated Perkasa for “claiming” to uphold Article 153 of the Federal Constitution as according to him, the Malay rights group only supported racist statements that were never sanctioned under the country’s constitution.

“How can Perkasa claim not to be racist and only fighting to uphold Article 153 of the Federal Constitution when they support racist statements that Chinese should go back to China and their women sell their bodies whereas Indians are beggars and dogs. I have checked and rechecked through Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and there is nothing stated in Article 153 that gives any one special rights to describe Chinese whose women sell their bodies and should go back to China, Indians as beggars or are dogs,” said Lim.

Umno appears to be divided on whether to associate or alienate the party for the controversial Malay rights group.

Several Umno leaders including Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed and Umno Youth Cheif Khairy Jamaluddin have claimed that the party was not bowing to Perkasa’s demands.

But other leaders like Umno deputy permanent chairman Datuk Mohamed Aziz have said that there was no need for Umno to distance itself from Perkasa, and that if there were Umno leaders who felt that way, it was their personal views and did not reflect the party’s stand.

“What is surprising however is that this support and the Perkasa mentality is prevalent even amongst all component parties of BN as explained by Tengku Adnan in The Malaysian Insider on Perkasa: ‘When we had a meeting with BN secretaries-general, we never talked even a little bit that we wanted to distance ourselves from anybody.’

“Clearly all the BN component parties like MCA are just playing a big “sandiwara” opposing Perkasa outside when inside meetings, they keep silent and submissively support UMNO’s pro-Perkasa position. BN component parties should explain why they keep silent inside BN meetings and dare not demand BN oppose Perkasa, yet talk big outside,” added Lim.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak said last Friday that Umno was not in conflict with any non-governmental organisations despite the recent move by party leaders to distance it from Perkasa.

Shortly after that, Tengku Adnan said that he had never asked party members to sever ties with Perkasa, denying an earlier statement where he was reported to have said that the country’s largest Malay party will not back Perkasa in the next general election and that the right-wing group was corroding the party’s non-Malay support.

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general claimed that the Perkasa mentality in BN was “dangerous” as it had resulted in “public and open denigration of non-Malays”, in reference to the Kulai school principal who was accused of uttering racist remarks to students during a school program.

“Dehumanizing Malaysians with contemptuous language and hate is extremely dangerous. This is what Hitler and Pol Pot has done to pursue their political agenda by dehumanizing the minorities within their population.

“If Perkasa, supported by UMNO and BN, succeeds in dehumanizing Malaysians, it is but a small step from preaching and even justifying mass violence. That is why Malaysians must stand up for peace and respect by uniting against the racism and extremism of hate as embodied not only by Perkasa but also against those that support Perkasa,” added the DAP secretary-general.