Ibrahim warns MCA, Gerakan against antagonising Malays

Ibrahim told the two BN parties they would be decimated without Malay backing. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Datuk Ibrahim Ali today told MCA and Gerakan to make peace with Perkasa and the Malay community ahead of the next general election, warning that failure to do so would cost them dearly during the polls.

The Perkasa president predicted that only two parties would likely emerge victors in the coming polls — Umno and DAP — while Islamist party PAS together with MCA and Gerakan were likely to perform poorly.

Ibrahim then said both MCA and Gerakan still had time to “remedy” the situation by making sure that they improved their “political game”.

“If they still do not know how to play the political game... sometimes offending the Malays and crossing swords with Perkasa, then the Malay votes... at least from Perkasa members, you see their behaviours in the next election,” he told a press conference this afternoon.

Ibrahim also said MCA or Gerakan would not stand a chance against the DAP in seats with 70 per cent Chinese voters and above.

Both parties, he added, would only perform reasonably well in seats with at least 65 per cent Malay majority, and then only if they did not continue to “offend” the community.

“Now, all the Chinese votes will go to DAP. A good example is the Sarawak election. But if they remedy this, and they can at least win 90 per cent of Malay votes and one-third of Chinese votes, they have a chance.

“If not, they have no hope,” he said.

On PAS, Ibrahim said the Islamist party had lost much of its Malay support due to its support of issues that were deemed as anti-Muslim.

As an example, Ibrahim said PAS’s unbending support for Bersih 2.0’s planned rally this Saturday would cause it to lose Malay votes.

This, he claimed, was because the National Fatwa Council had already declared that the rally goes against Islamic principles.

“So the party that will face the largest casualties these coming polls is PAS. They are upholding things that they should not. The Malay votes that left Umno in the past will now return to Umno,” he said.