KUALA LUMPUR: Amid the ongoing row between Umno and Perkasa, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has lashed out at extremists, deeming them a threat to the nation's peace and economy.
"They treat anyone who is different as an enemy and engineer fear in people who don’t conform to their thoughts or ideologies and in some cases in people who simply look different," he said in his official address posted on his official blog for the Malaysia Day celebration tomorrow.
"I am strongly opposed to these types of behaviour. It saddens me that despite living in an independent multi-cultural nation for over 50 years, there are still those who cannot tolerate, much less accept the benefits of a diverse society.
“It saddens me because by rejecting our diverse way of life, they reject 1Malaysia," said the Umno president, adding that such radical groups wield great influence.
Although Najib did not name Perkasa, his comments, however, mirrored the views expressed by numerous Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders regarding the Malay right-wing movement.
"While these groups are often small in number, their presence is amplified through their extreme sentiments and acts," said the prime minister.
Umno leaders like Minister in the Prime Minister Department Nazri Abdul Aziz, Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin, party secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor and Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin have lambasted Perkasa.
They have also urged Umno to distance itself from Perkasa, describing the latter as a stumbling block to efforts to regain non-Malay support.
However, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, along with Umno's own mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia, have come out in support of Perkasa.
They warned Umno could lose Malay support if it sidelined Perkasa.
Last week, Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali said that his organisation did not need Umno or its leaders.
Najib's Perkasa dilemma
After its electoral debacle in 2008, Najib is attempting to chart a different course for Umno under his 1Malaysia banner.
But Mahathir warned that it was Umno's inability to protect the Malays from Chinese extremists which led to the mushrooming of groups like Perkasa.
Najib's reforms also extended into the economic sphere where capital outflows, the brain drain crisis, flagging investments and a high budget deficit forced him to unveil the New Economic Model (NEM) which recognises the need to end race-based policies to spur domestic growth.
However, this was met with stiff resistance from Perkasa, which expressed concern that the NEM could erode the special position of the Malays.
Perkasa's ultra-nationalist stand has appealed to the mainly conservative Malays who form the majority of the electorate. The movement claims to have 300,000 members.
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