Mahathir and Ibrahim – an 'ultra and a liar'

KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad has come full circle – from an ultra back again to an ultra – and that, according to Lim Kit Siang, is the greatest tragedy.

The DAP stalwart was incensed that the former prime minister gave his patronage to a right-wing organisation called Perkasa when he opened its inaugural assembly yesterday.

By throwing his weight behind a supposedly non-governmental organisation, Mahathir, said Lim, has repudiated “Bangsa Malaysia and Vision 2020 which he enunciated in 1991”.

But the DAP veteran launched a scathing attack on Ibrahim Ali, the president of Perkasa who was waving a keris in the company of Mahathir and other “warriors” to signify that the movement is ready to shed blood to defend Malay rights. (It brings back images of Hishammuddin Hussein waving a keris at the Umno general assembly in 2005, for the same reason – to defend Malay rights.)

Lim said, judging by the incendiary speech Ibrahim made, Perkasa is built on stilts of lies. He accused the maverick politician of telling a lie when the latter blamed the DAP and the Malaysian Malaysia slogan for mainly causing the May 13 race riots.

“Has Ibrahim Ali taken 41 years after the 1969 tragedy to make this 'discovery'? he asked.

He said if the DAP and the slogan were what triggered the riots, the party would have been banned long ago and its leaders thrown behind bars.

Lim said it is lie that the DAP is against the Malays, Islam and wants to do away with the Malay Rulers.

He cited an incident in the 1970s when Ibrahim, then a student leader, sought his help to escape detention under the Internal Security Act. Lim was then the parliamentary Opposition Leader.

“Why sought my help if DAP leaders were so anti-national and disloyal as he now wants to depict?” asked Lim.

He also noted that the Perkasa assembly coincided with the launching of the Chinese edition of Zaid Ibrahim's book entitled “I, too, am a Malay”.

“What a sharp contrast in the imageries evoked in the two events,” said Lim. The book evokes the “all-embracing hopes of all Malaysians for a progressive, prosperous common future regardless of race, religion or region”. And Perkasa?

Perkasa, he said, is “anchored in a hankering for the past, oblivious of 52-years of nation-building”.The “neo-organisation” is even dismissive of the 1Malaysia concept... “all to allow Umno-putras to perpetuate the abuses of NEP by exploiting the name of Bumiputeras”.