Govt strangely silent on Perkasa’s racist threats

So far the Najib administration has not uttered a single word on the seditious threats made by Perkesa and bloggers on the Bersih rally.

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang wants to know why the Najib administration is so silent on the racist threats made by extremist Malay group Perkasa and bloggers.

The Ipoh Timur MP said the government has so far been silent on the groups’ May 13 threat against a planned mass rally calling for free and fair elections by Bersih despite the seditious nature of such a warning.

“If such incendiary, blood-curdling threats had been uttered by anyone in Pakatan Rakyat, he or she would have been clapped in jail without much ado,” he told reporters at Parliament lobby here.

Perkasa chief, Ibrahim Ali, who has declared himself to be a “war general” leading a counter rally against Bersih on Sunday, said his outfit should not be held responsible for any untoward incidents should the poll reform group continue with its protest on July 9.

He also warned the Chinese against joining the rally, asking them to stay home and “stock up on food” in reference to the Emergency period imposed during the racial riots of 1969 that left scores dead.

“Imagine if chaos erupts. If the Bersih rally is not cancelled… I believe the Chinese community will have to stock up on food,” Ibrahim was quoted as saying.

The same sentiment was expressed by bloggers. One of them, who calls himself “panglima perang cyber” or “cyber war general” sent out e-mails of the warning with an attached video found on Youtube.com of the gory May 1998 racial riots in Indonesia that caused the deaths of hundreds of Chinese.

“Are the Chinese in Malaysia willing to accept the same fate as their brethren in Indonesia if our country goes into chaos?” said the blogger in an e-mail thread posted today.

Lim demanded to know why these groups enjoy “immunity” for “such seditious, incendiary and treasonous utterances”.

“Two days have passed without any action or response from the police or the Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein although they are capable of lightning-speed reaction when alleged infractions of the law are committed by Pakatan leaders”.

He said what was worrying was not Ibrahim as he is irrelevant and “a clown” but the silence of the government.

The Election Commission said it would consider meeting Bersih representatives for a dialogue on poll reform if the outfit cancels its planned rally.

While Bersih has not responded to the gesture, Lim called on leaders from the ruling coalition to join in the rally “to support the civil society initiative for free and fair elections”.

The rally is dubbed as Bersih 2.0. The planned rally is a second attempt at such protest and is expected to gather around 300,000 people. The first was held in October 2007, with some 50,000 flooding the city streets.

Umno Youth will also be holding its own counter-rally on the same day despite warning by its former chief Hishammuddin that similar action will be taken against them should they continue with their rally which has been deemed illegal.