October 1987 revisited

Watch out for PEKIDA or the ‘tiga line’. They have been trying to create problems since way back and during every by-election since March 2008. Their job is to push the country to the brink of another race riot so that the government can ‘restore order’ by detaining activists and opposition leaders under the Internal Security Act.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

First take a look at these photos of the demonstration after Friday prayers yesterday.

Did you notice those green-yellow-red flags, the colours of the traffic lights? Well, those are PEKIDA flags. And if you want to know more about PEKIDA then go to their website here: http://www.pekida.org/

PEKIDA is a ‘fifth column’ founded soon after May 13, 1969. Its purpose is to form a front line or line of defence in the event a second race riot erupts -- May 13 Version 2. All the Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers, past and present, have links with PEKIDA -- as do some in the army, police, UMNO leaders, civil servants, and whatnot.

It is like Ireland where Sinn Fein is the political party and the IRA is the militant wing. In Malaysia it is UMNO and PEKIDA respectively.

PEKIDA also played a role in the Perak crisis, as you can read below:

Sebenarnya punca krisis politik Perak ini segala-galanya bermula dari UMNO Perak yang tidak bersedia menerima kekalahan mereka dalam PRU ke-12 pada Mac 2008. Sejak dari keputusan diumumkan oleh SPR yang menunjukkan UMNO/BN Perak hanya memenangi 28 kerusi dari 59 kerusi DUN Perak, mereka terus merancang untuk menggagalkan penubuhan kerajaan Perak dari pakatan parti-parti pembangkang PAS/PKR/DAP.

Pada malam keputusan tersebut diumumkan UMNO telah menghubungi beberapa ADUN PAS untuk melompat parti dengan tawaran berjuta ringgit. Orang yang pertama mendapat tawaran itu ialah Ir. Hj.Nizar Jamaluddin, ADUN Pasir Panjang (kini Dato’ Seri).

Setelah saya selaku Pesuruhjaya PAS Perak mengumumkan persetujuan PAS untuk bersama DAP dan PKR membentuk kerajaan di Perak, tidak berhenti-henti saya dihubungi oleh beberapa orang yang mewakili UMNO, diantaranya beberapa orang pegawai kerajaan. Bahkan saya ditemui oleh beberapa orang pemimpin PEKIDA yang saya percaya mereka mewakili UMNO.

Saya mendapat maklumat pihak UMNO cuba mempengaruhi istana untuk membentuk kerajaan minoriti dengan 28 ADUN kerana parti-parti lain memperolehi bilangan kerusi yang lebih kecil dari UMNO/BN. Akan tetapi kami berjaya memintas dengan membuat keputusan menubuhkan gabungan 3 parti yang kemudian dikenali dengan Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat.

UMNO terus cuba memujuk PAS dengan menghantar Dato’ Zahid Hamidi untuk berbincang dengan saya, tetapi saya enggan berjumpa beliau. Beliau dan beberapa orang rakannya termasuk Dato’ Amin Salleh, Ketua Jabatan Hal Ehwal Khas Kementerian Penerangan gagal berjumpa saya kerana rumah kediaman saya di Simpang Empat Semanggol dikawal ketat oleh Unit Amal dengan dibantu oleh beberapa orang polis.

Kejadian itu berlaku pada malam 16 Mac 2008, sehari sebelum majlis upacara mengangkat sumpah Hj. Nizar sebagai Menteri Besar Perak yang ke-10. -- Ustaz Ahmad Awang

What UMNO/PEKIDA is trying to do is reminiscent of the 1987 UMNO-MCA sabre-rattling and the rounding up of more than 100 activists and political leaders soon after that in October 1987 -- called Operasi Lalang.

In 1987, UMNO had split into two that eventually resulted in the creation of UMNO Baru and Semangat 46. To distract people from UMNO’s internal problems, Najib Tun Razak, the UMNO Youth Leader then, and Lee Kim Sai, the MCA Youth Leader, engaged in highly-publicised sabre-rattling, or what Malaysians would call ‘wayang kulit’ (shadow play).

The impression given was that Malaysia was rapidly moving towards May 13 Version 2.

To ‘restore peace’ and to ‘guarantee the safety’ of Malaysians, Operasi Lalang was launched and more than 100 ‘troublemakers’ who were a ‘threat to national security’ were rounded up under the Internal Security Act. Many ended up in Kamunting under two years detention without trial.

Strangely enough, both Najib and Kim Sai, the main players in this wayang kulit, were spared. They were not detained under the Internal Security Act.

Today we are seeing the same thing happening again. Since March 2008, UMNO has been trying many times to trigger racial problems. Yesterday was just another in a series of many attempts.

Yesterday’s demonstration was about a letter one MCA man wrote to the Prime Minister complaining about the ‘noise’ from the mosque in his neighbourhood. The Prime Minister leaked the letter and this triggered an uproar.

Back in 2008, Teresa Kok was accused of also complaining about the noise from the mosque. The mosque committee denied the incident but still Teresa was detained under the Internal Security Act.

On this latest issue the MCA man actually wrote a complaint letter to the Prime Minister and copied to all and sundry. However, even with this evidence no action was taken against him whilst in Teresa’s case, even though she did no such thing -- and this was confirmed by the mosque committee -- she was still detained.

If this is not a wayang kulit then, as Ummi Hafilda Ali declared: I dare say I am still a virgin.

Watch out for PEKIDA or the ‘tiga line’. They have been trying to create problems since way back and during every by-election since March 2008. Their job is to push the country to the brink of another race riot so that the government can ‘restore order’ by detaining activists and opposition leaders under the Internal Security Act.

And when we say PEKIDA we of course mean UMNO.

In spite of this I bet the Chinese and Indians will still vote for Barisan Nasional in the Tenang by-election at the end of this month. And when I say Cina dan India bodoh sombong they get angry. But if I don’t call them bodoh sombong then what do I call them?