Perkasa mulls suit against G25 for ‘baseless allegations’

Upset at being criticised, right-wing group Perkasa is planning to sue the 25 prominent Malays who signed an open letter appealing for rational discourse on Islam, or at the very least, the group's vocal spokesperson, former diplomat Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin.

The 25, who are retired civil servants and influential leaders, had called for an end to extremist views that spread racial and religious discord, and some members, in individual comments to the media, had also singled out groups like Perkasa and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) for politicising Islam.

Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali told The Malaysian Insider that they were making preparations to sue Noor Farida for her baseless allegations against the group.

"We are not going to be lenient anymore. We will take action against any party who makes baseless allegations against Perkasa."

Noor Farida, in an interview with The Malaysian Insider, had said the erosion of Malay rights that Perkasa and Isma claimed was "all in their imagination".

She also explained her fear that Malaysia could one day end up like "another Pakistan and Afghanistan" where religious extremism had scared the moderates and professionals into leaving the country.

Some of the other signatories, like retired Court of Appeal judge Datuk Seri Shaikh Daud Md Ismail, had also expressed concerns that Putrajaya was not doing enough to check extremists rhetoric in the country.

The open letter had asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to address religious and racial tension and exercise leadership in guiding Malaysia back to moderation.

Syed Hassan said Perkasa would never acknowledge the letter's signatories, now dubbed as the Group of 25 (G25), as they did not represent the Malay community.

"Perkasa will not acknowledge this Group of 25 as a representative of the Malays.

"It is up to the G25 to also say that Perkasa does not represent the Malays, but at least we have more than 500,000 Malays as our members," he said.

Perkasa's possible legal action against Noor Farida or all 25 signatories comes after the Malay-rights pressure group's president, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, filed a defamation suit against English language daily Star Publications Bhd and its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai.

Ibrahim is suing Wong over an opinion piece on the Perkasa chief's call for Malays to burn Bibles with the word "Allah".

Ibrahim had also called the G25 members "cowards" for criticising Malay-rights groups like Perkasa and Isma.

"They are only attacking the Malays. Why are they not saying anything on the non-Malay groups and the others who have criticised Islam and the Malay rulers?" Ibrahim had said at Perkasa's annual general assembly in Kuala Lumpur on December 14.

He also decried the letter and the views of the G25 as "Malay liberals" who were a threat to Islam.

“In 2015, we will be haunted by issues involving Islam’s defence. Malay liberals have now replaced those who want to destroy Islam,” Ibrahim said, adding that what they saw as "extremism" was actually "Islam's rules" and "God's law".

Amid worsening race and religious relations in Malaysia, the G25 had published an open letter on December 8 asking for a rational dialogue on the position of Islam and Islamic law in a constitutional democracy.

"Given the impact of such vitriolic rhetoric on race relations and the political stability of this country, we feel it is incumbent on us to take a public position," said Noor Farida, a former Malaysian ambassador to the Netherlands, in a statement issued on behalf of the 25 signatories.

The letter decried the "lack of clarity and understanding" on the place of Islam within Malaysia's constitutional democracy, as well as a "serious breakdown of federal-state division of powers, both in the areas of civil and criminal jurisdictions".

It also expressed concern at how religious authorities were "asserting authority beyond their jurisdiction" and that fatwa issued had violated the Federal Constitution as well as the consultative process.

Among the proposals it recommended was the need to promote awareness about the diversity of views and interpretations in Islam.

Public support for the letter's contents and for the 25 signatories has been strong, with many writing to media organisations expressing their thanks and solidarity with the signatories, while an online petition called #iam26 drew thousands of signatures. – December 31, 2014.

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