Perkasa slams Tengku Adnan, warns 'mistake' bad for Umno

Tengku Adnan

(Malaysian Insider) - Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali intimated today that his Umno counterpart Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor should get the sack for allegedly misrepresenting his party president, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Tengku Adnan recently came out scathing of Perkasa — that Umno will not back them in the next general election and that the right-wing group was corroding the party’s non-Malay support.

He has since denied the statements following Najib’s remarks on Friday that the party was not at odds with Perkasa.

“If I as the Perkasa secretary-general made such statements that create trouble for Perkasa, my president Datuk Ibrahim Ali would sack me immediately,” Syed Hassan told The Malaysian Insider today.

“I don’t know if the Umno president still wants to keep a secretary-general like this. This is not a small matter that can be forgiven as it involves the credibility of Umno,” he added.

Syed Hassan questioned if Tengku Adnan’s statements reflected the position of the Umno president and the supreme council, as well as that of Najib as the BN chairman.

“We are still asking if Ku Nan’s previous statement – which was that Umno decided to alienate Perkasa – represents the Umno president and supreme council,” said Syed Hassan.

“The same goes for his statement that the 13 BN component parties agreed to distance Perkasa. Was it the view of the prime minister, who is also the BN chairman?” he asked.

Earlier, Ibrahim had challenged Tengku Adnan to clarify if his statement that Umno will not back the Malay rights group was his or the party’s.

Ibrahim had pointed out that the Umno supreme council deliberates on such issues, with the party president Najib and not the secretary-general announcing its decision, prompting the Pasir Mas MP to ask if Tengku Adnan was toeing the party line.

Syed Hassan further chastised Tengku Adnan for humiliating Umno and remarked cynically that it was easy to issue denials.

“As what I have said earlier, some Umno leaders should not simply open their mouth as lots of flies will come out. Tengku Adnan’s actions are embarrassing. It is easy to deny statements that have already been made,” he said.

Yesterday, the DAP described Tengku Adnan’s apparent reversal of his previous stand on Perkasa as a confirmation of Umno’s silent backing of the Malay group.

The opposition accused the ruling party of using Perkasa to restore Malay votes that were feared to be lost among conservatives who felt that Najib was pandering to the non-Malay communities.

Tengku Adnan, who is also the BN secretary-general, has now stressed that his statement did not repudiate Perkasa but was just an acknowledgment the Malay rights movement was causing the coalition to lose non-Malay votes.

He went a step further and said that he had never asked party members to sever ties with Perkasa, accusing its president Datuk Ibrahim Ali of blowing the issue out of proportion.

Perkasa claims to have a membership base of 300,000, of whom 80 per cent are said to be Umno members.

The group, backed by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had earlier warned the ruling party against snubbing it and claimed that the move would cost Umno at the ballot box.

Tengku Adnan has now reiterated Najib’s points and said that Umno should not distance itself from any NGO, but should instead approach them to educate them on BN policies.

Using the Malay rights platform, Perkasa has opposed attempts by the Najib administration to roll back Bumiputera quotas, despite evidence that affirmative action policies have sliced the country’s competitiveness over the past four decades.