‘Ambiga should be arrested, not granted royal audience’

Perkasa will also submit a letter seeking an audience with the King before July 9

KUALA LUMPUR: Bersih chairman S Ambiga should be arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) instead of being invited to the palace, Perkasa said today.

“We were shocked that Ambiga was granted an audience,” Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali told a press conference here. “His Majesty should not be receiving people like that. We know Ambiga represents an illegal organisation.”

“She should be arrested under the ISA or the Emergency Ordinance (EO) and not being invited to the palace,” he said.

Nevertheless, Ibrahim said Perkasa respected the decision of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin to grant Ambiga a royal audience.

He added that the move reflected a benevolent King who cared for his country and people.

“The King’s willingness shows his concern for the safety of his people.”

Perkasa will also submit a letter requesting an audience with the King before this Saturday to voice its intentions for holding its own rally to counter the Bersih gathering.

The Malay right-wing group was reported to have been turned away by the palace when it attempted to submit the letter this morning. Ibrahim, however, denied this allegation.

“We hope that we will also be received in the same manner that the King received the organiser of an illegal rally,” he said. “If the people can extend favourable treatment to an illegal organisation that is already causing chaos in the country, then they should also extend the same treatment to us.”

A disgruntled Ibrahim then took potshots at Ambiga, beginning with her demand for the immediate release of the six Parti Socialis Malaysia (PSM) members detained under the EO.

“Who does she think she is?” he asked. “Ambiga is behaving like she is the police chief. Like this is her father’s country. She’s not even running in the next general election so why is she poking her nose into the electoral system with all these demands?”

Strong doubts

Ibrahiim also expressed strong doubts over Bersih’s assurances that the rally would be peaceful as he believed that crowd control would be a serious problem.

“You cannot make such guarantees even if the rally is being held in a stadium,” he said. “Anything can happen with people moving in and out. There are huge groups of illegal immigrants living in the city who could also incite violence.”

“A Chinese shop gets broken into and a Malay is accused or vice-versa. And then the whole country erupts into chaos. This is what I’m worried about. The government also keeps flip-flopping on whether it will allow the rally to go on or not. It needs to rule with a firmer hand!”

On the contrary, he said Perkasa could guarantee peace because he was the only firebrand in the group and if anyone were to be arrested, it would be him.

“But I should be given an award for fighting to preserve the nation’s peace instead of being arrested,” he said. “This is what I want to tell the people. Don’t think that the country will only be right if (Opposition Leader) Anwar Ibrahim becomes prime minister.”

“Anwar isn’t the only person who is qualified to be prime minister. I am also qualified. In fact, I am more popular than Anwar with his sodomy case and sex video clip. I am known for my so-called racist statements in defending the Malays. I feel great!”

Ibrahim also warned the online media not to distort their reports of the rallies this Saturday by under-reporting Perkasa’s crowd size and exaggerating that of Bersih’s.

“You watch and see,” he said.”If 2,000 turn up at Perkasa’s rally the online news will report it as 200. But if 500 turn up at Bersih’s rally, it will be reported as 5,000 and the portals will say that the people are rejecting Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s rule.”