Lim ticks off Najib over ang pow fiasco

PM’s failure to condemn Perkasa shows how protective Putrajaya is of the Malay supremacist organisation, says DAP sec-gen.

GEORGE TOWN: Malaysians will be convinced that Perkasa has no links with Barisan Nasional only if Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Umno openly cut off all ties with the Malay supremacist organisation.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng criticised Najib for attemping to fool the public into believing that the taboo white ang pow envelopes distributed by Perkasa at its Chinese New Year do last Sunday had nothing to do with BN.

In trying to distance his government from Perkasa, Najib has said that the incident was a learning experience for race relations in Malaysia.

Lim said Najib’s failure to condemn Perkasa showed how protective Putrajaya is of the organisation even at the expense of trampling on the sensitivities of the Chinese community.

“How can he dismiss this disrespectful and insensitive gesture so frivolously when white packets are traditionally used for Chinese funerals?” asked Lim in his blog posting today.

The Penang Chief Minister said time and time again Malaysians have seen Perkasa and its chief Ibrahim Ali getting away with most seditious actions and statements.

When Perkasa can get away with such vile and seditious threats, he said it was crystal clear that the organisation has the full backing of Umno and the BN leadership.

Despite acts such as burning the portrait of Bersih 2.0 leader S Ambiga, calling her as a “dangerous Hindu woman” and threatening the Chinese not to come out on July 9 last year to join the Bersih 2.0 rally, no action has been taken on Perkasa.

‘MCA is tacitly collaborating with Perkasa’
He said Najib was trying to distance himself from the ang pow fiasco by claiming that Ibrahim, as an independent MP without any official position, has nothing to do with BN and the government.

“But no one believes this,” said Lim. “In an interview with Al Jazeera two years ago, he defended Perkasa saying they are “not so extreme” if one understood their demands.”

Lim alleged that Umno and BN leaders have consistently supported Perkasa, attended its functions and have even adopted their views on national policies.

He said MCA is tacitly collaborating with Perkasa, noting that Sri Desa Branch chief and Seputeh division committee member Tiew Chew Ming had said “Perkasa fights for all people regardless of race.”

Lim said that the late Dr Zainal Aznam, a member of the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) which drafted the New Economic Model (NEM), had blamed the BN government for submitting to Perkasa’s demand by dropping the proposed Equal Opportunities Commission.

The commission was to be part of the NEM.

“The PM must realise that his open support has emboldened Perkasa to act in an insolent manner, preaching hatred and extremism not to mention exposing his 1Malaysia as empty sloganeering,” said Lim, the Bagan MP.