Perkasa tells Umno to mind its vote base

Malay rights group Perkasa today issued a stark warning to Umno not to be complacent about its vote base, claiming that only three in 10 Umno members were sure to vote for the party in the next general elections.

Firing a shot across Umno’s bow, Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali (picture) said membership numbers meant nothing as only a select hardcore would vote for the party every time, while the rest could be “overrided” by issues and persuaded to vote for other parties.

“Don’t think that Umno members will vote for Umno,” Ibrahim said at his residence in Taman Melawati here.

“Maybe they are Umno members but they don’t have the Umno spirit.

“They vote according to the national wave... so you cannot take things for granted, so long as they’re your members, they’ll support you. No, not necessary,” the Pasir Mas MP said.

He explained that issues such as price hikes could make voters forget they were Umno members, and hinted that Umno’s perceived abandonment of Malay issues to curry favour with non-Malay voters could similarly affect its members.

“Good unity contributes, good candidate contributes, good election machinery contributes – these are all contributive factors to any party or candidate during the election. But these are all bonus contributions. The most important thing... is issues,” Ibrahim said, pointing out that this has been the voting trend since Election 2008.

The independent MP cited Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) good use of issues in the last election, which helped it to win parliamentary seats in Gombak and Shah Alam despite the preponderance of Umno members in both constituencies.

“So you ask (Umno Youth chief) Khairy (Jamaluddin), where are Umno members which he’s so proud of?” he asked.

In a thinly veiled threat to Umno, Ibrahim also said that he had not ruled out the possibility of giving “guidance” to Perkasa’s 300,000 members – 80 per cent of whom are alleged to be disillusioned Umno members – on how to vote in the next general election.

“It’s up to Perkasa members who they want to vote for... but we might also give direction to their support if doing so helps our fight for Malay and bumiputera interests,” he said, in a show of electoral clout.

Ibrahim’s warning comes just a day after Umno’s top leaders, who have kept silent so far on the topic of Perkasa, cautiously agreed that supporting the controversial group’s views could prove detrimental to BN’s struggle.

Leading the fray was Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, who told The Malaysian Insider that it was “about time” that Umno made a strong stand against Ibrahim and Perkasa.

Nazri, who has been the most vocal of all Umno leaders on the topic of Perkasa, even went a step further to assert that all of Perkasa’s members from Umno and its patron, former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, were political “has-beens”.

Also joining in was Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who told his BN component party counterparts that Umno will not back Perkasa or Ibrahim in the next general election as such a move will only erode non-Malay support for the ruling coalition.

The stage is now set for a battle of wills in Umno after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad declared his support yesterday for Perkasa as a crutch for what he said was a weak Umno.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak has asked senior party leaders to disassociate from the controversial Malay group.

Dr Mahathir is Perkasa’s patron, which is seen as representing the views of Umno’s conservative faction who are against Najib’s proposed economic reforms which they claim will erode Malay control of the economy.

“Perkasa members are Umno supporters. It would not help Umno’s cause to turn them away,” Dr Mahathir told the New Straits Times.

Opposition leaders, including Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, are sceptical of Umno’s attempts to distance itself from Perkasa.

The PKR adviser and Opposition Leader has pointed out that it was Umno which built up the Malay rights group to what it is.

courtesy of Malaysian Insider