PETALING JAYA: Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali has now decided that PAS MP Khalid Samad's challenge is worth his two cents after all.
The outspoken politician also decided to rope in Danish brewery Carlsberg into the fray.
Khalid had dared Ibrahim to contest in the upcoming Galas state seat by-election to prove that there was no link between Perkasa and Umno.
He said if Ibrahim did not contest the state seat but threw his support behind the Barisan Nasional candidate, it would indicate Umno's political game at work.
But this morning, the Perkasa boss had dismissed the dare as “not important to entertain” in a single line text message to FMT.
In the evening, Ibrahim had a change of heart and decided to send a longer text message on the matter, and also took a swipe at the PAS leader.
On a sarcastic note, the Pasir Mas MP said he saw Khalid's challenge to him as a sign of respect and acknowledgment of the former's capabilities in holding two positions.
'No time for this'
“I am grateful because he recognises my greatness, capabilities and potential. Although I appreciate this, I must also be honest. I don't have the time to be a state rep because I am already a MP.
“I am not greedy like some opposition politicians who become state rep and MP, draw two salaries, but their service to the people is limited to only holding 'ceramah perdana',” he added.
Furthermore, Ibrahim said Galas was BN potential candidate Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's area.
“I don't want Ku Li (Razaleigh) to feel bad, and perhap this is Khalid's intention. So I feel sorry for Khalid, his challenge is 'low class',” he added.
Ibrahim accused the PAS leader of trying to use him to break the Malay votes and hamper Perkasa's struggle to champion Islam and the Malay race, which “PAS had failed to do”.
Adding an alcoholic twist, the Perkasa boss then asked Khalid how the Carlsberg brewery in Shah Alam was doing which the latter had visited.
“The Carlsberg label is green and it matches the PAS' official colour,” he added.
However, Ibrahim did not respond on whether the right-wing Malay movement would campaign in Galas to secure Malay votes for BN.
Khalid: This proves it
Earlier, Khalid had found the Perkasa boss brief response humorous and likened it to an admission of guilt.
"This just goes to prove the point that Perkasa and Umno are in cahoots,” he said, laughing.
“And Perkasa knows that its cause doesn't have the support of the majority of Malays be it in Galas or elsewhere in the country," he added.
Recently, Umno had clarified that it had no links with Perkasa after the party became concerned that the perceived link could drive away non-Malay support.
While Ibrahim maintained that neither Perkasa nor him were racists and they were merely defending the constitution, critics, however, had accused them of bigotry.
Among those who condemned the movement were Umno hotshots like Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, party secretary general Tunku Adnan Mansor and supreme council member Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.
This prompted Ibrahim to declare that Perkasa did not need Umno, but former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned that it could prove disastrous for Umno in terms of Malay support.
Mahathir had previously said that entities like Perkasa had emerged because Umno had failed to protect the Malays from “extremist” Chinese groups.
Three-way split
If Ibrahim joined the Galas fray it would spell trouble for both Umno and PAS.
Aside from splitting the Malay votes three ways, the party-hopping Ibrahim could possibly have a stronger pull thanks to his previous affiliations with Semangat 46, Umno and PAS.
In the 2008 general election, Ibrahim won the Pasir Mas seat on a PAS ticket before declaring himself an independent.
The Galas seat fell vacant following the death of PAS incumbent Che Hashim Sulaima on Sept 27. Nomination would be held on Oct 26, while polling had been set for Nov 4.
BN had elected Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as its election director and was also looking at the prospect of fielding him as a candidate.
While the Kelantan prince had accepted the former role, he was only expected to announce his decision on the latter when he returns from abroad tomorrow.
Others expected to be fielded as the BN candidate were Gua Musang Umno secretary Abdul Aziz Yusof and Gua Musang Umno Youth vice-chief Zamzani Harun.
PAS was still contemplating its choice of candidate despite an earlier indication by Kelantan deputy commissioner Husam Musa that the party might consider fielding an Orang Asli.
Che Hashim, a first-term assemblyman, had defeated BN's Saufi Deraman in the 2008 general election with a slim majority of 646 votes. He had polled 4,399 votes against Saufi's 3,753.
Of the 11,553 voters in Galas, 61.63% are Malays, 20.08% Chinese, 1.6% Indians, 0.9% Sarawak bumiputeras and 16.37% Orang Asli.
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