KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today denied a news report claiming he has “parted ways” with Perkasa, saying he still supports the controversial Malay rights group’s views although he never had any formal affiliations with it.
In a blog post this afternoon to rebut the news, the former prime minister said there was no basis to the claim that he had distanced himself from Perkasa because he had grown “uneasy with the group’s direction”.
His only link to Perkasa, the influential former Umno president said, is that he “may” have shared some of his ideas with the group in the past, and that some of his thoughts may have coincided with theirs.
“For starters, I am not formally attached to them,” Dr Mahathir wrote. “However, I must admit that I do support their views.
“Especially when it comes to reacting against extremist views of the non-Malays.”
Dr Mahathir, who was Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister, said during his 22-year tenure in office, groups like Perkasa never existed.
Today, he said, Perkasa’s birth was only due to the rise in “extremist views among the non-Malays” who he said have openly questioned Malay rights and privileges.
Earlier today, news portal The Malaysian Insider reported that Dr Mahathir had parted ways with Perkasa, as he was unhappy with how the group caused and handled racial issues, including a call to burn Bibles.
The Malaysian Insider also reported that Dr Mahathir scolded Perkasa last November during their meeting and had claimed to be unwell to explain his absence at Perkasa’s annual general meeting (AGM) when he was in fact unhappy with the group.
But in an immediate response, the group’s secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali labelled the report “mistorted” and false.
“I do not know from where they got the news that Tun M has started to distance (himself) from Perkasa. We feel that that news is not true,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted today.
Later, Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali insisted that the group’s relationship with the former prime minister remains intact and told The Malaysian Insider that there was no more credible a source to confirm its report than the former prime minister himself.
“If it is just a source, who is right? Ask Tun M himself,” Ibrahim told Malay Mail Online via text message.
“And why didn’t they ask me as president? I challenge The Malaysian Insider to ask Tun M if it is true he has parted ways with Perkasa.”
Ibrahim further disputed that Dr Mahathir was unhappy with the former’s call for Muslims to burn Malay- and Iban-language Bibles last year, pointing out that the former prime minister had expressed his support in public.
Last October, Dr Mahathir defended the authorities’ decision not to prosecute Ibrahim’s 2013 call to burn Bibles, saying that the latter’s advice was “acceptable to Muslims” and did not intend to provoke clashes between Muslims and non-Muslims.
Dr Mahathir, who had featured prominently in Perkasa events, said that it was an acceptable practice to burn old copies of Quran, adding that prohibitions against disrespecting the Muslim holy book should be extended to the holy texts of other religions.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/im-not-perkasas-patron-but-i-support-their-views-dr-m-says#sthash.nnrEQnUz.dpuf
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