'Perkasa rally called off to avoid clash among Malays'

(Malaysiakini)Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali claimed that he had called off the July 9 rally to counter the Bersih 2.0 march at the last minute in order to avoid a clash among the Malays.

He said he issued an instruction for the Perkasa supporters to stand down about 90 minutes before they were to join the rally at the Titiwangsa lake garden at 2.30pm that Saturday.

The decision was made by the Perkasa leadership after he sent 50 inflitrators, who pretended to be Bersih 2.0 supporters, to monitor the situation on the ground in Kuala Lumpur that day.

"They told me that they (the Bersih 2.0 marchers) were all Malays. The Chinese only (made up) a small number, only one or two percent, and the Indians were also not that many.

"I asked 'where are (DAP leaders) Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng', they said 'not there'. Then I asked who else were there? They said (PKR de facto leader) Anwar (Ibrahim) and (PAS president) Abdul Hadi Awang," Ibrahim added.

"Had we gathered, we would not be able to stop the crowd from marching, then there will be loggerheads among the Malays," the politician told Internet TV station eTV in an exclusive interview last week. The recording was aired on Tuesday.

Ibrahim said two other reasons lead to his "bold decision" to call off the rally - the decree issued by the Agong and another by the Selangor sultan against street demonstrations, as well as his intention not to divert the police's effort in dealing with the Bersih 2.0 rally.

"So taking into consideration the decrees by the Agong and the sultan, taking into account (the interests of) all Malays and taking into account the focus of the police force in controlling Bersih, I made the bold decision not to have the gathering. I called off the gathering at 1pm.

"If I went on that day, (we could) easily (mobilised) 3,000 people. When I called it off, there were already 300 Perkasa members at Titiwangsa," he said.

Piqued by those who called him 'coward'

The 61-year-old Independent MP for Pasir Mas also boasted that in the lead-up to July 9, 15,000 people had registered with Perkasa to join the rally.

According to him, those who registered had given their contact numbers to Perkasa, and any instruction from the leadership would reach them within seconds through text messages.

Ibrahim had called a press conference on July 8 - the day before the Bersih rally - where he said Perkasa was calling off its rally because the police had rejected their application for a permit and that no stadium was available.

During the eTV interview, Ibrahim said he had received hundreds of congratulatory text messages commending his decision, except for one which called him a "coward".

"They said Perkasa is a wise organisation. That proves we are not militant, that proves we are not extremist. The records speak for themselves," said a proud Ibrahim.

He then slammed his critics as "sick people" in dire of treatment.

"I think these are really sick people. I really pity them. If I have enough money, I will to buy a sizeable plot of land, I will build a good chalet, keep them inside and I will give them food, I will to give them drinks.

"I want to take care of them because they need some treatment so that they can be more mature, responsible, and not too emotional and not too personal," he added.

Sarbaini case: Malays shouldn't make noise

At the interview, Ibrahim also shared his views on the late Customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed, who reportedly fell to his death at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) building in Kuala Lumpur on April 6.

"The government has opened an inquest into the matter, so we will wait for the finding. We Malays don't make noise. Sarbaini got it, many other Malays also got it. We believe in the operation of law," he said.

Ibrahim compared the Sarbaini case with the death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock, saying that the latter had cost taxpayers "millions of ringgit" in the establishment of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI).

"If they are not happy with the result, then what are they going to do? A world (level) royal commission?" he asked.

The interview was conducted one day before the release of the Teoh RCI report.

"But to us, we don't make noise. The Malays did not make noise. There were many other cases," he repeated.