From white 'ang-pows' to 'TIBAI', Ibrahim Ali to launch anti-Anwar NGO

In the coarse and uncouth fashion that has now become his trademark, Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali will officiate at the launching of a new NGO called TIBAI to denounce Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim this Sunday at Kelab Sultan Sulaiman in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur.

TIBAI stands for Tolak Individu Bernama Anwar Ibrahim or Reject the individual named Anwar Ibrahim. It is also the northern Malay colloquial word for hit, beat or smash.

However, many pundits suspect the anti-Chinese Ibrahim Ali might also be punning on a foul Cantonese word that basically means 'backside' or a person's rear.

The Pasir Mas MP had during the Chinese New Year celebrations in January handed out cash in white envelopes to senior citizens. Cash in white envelopes denote pak kam or the cash contribution made by friends to bereaved families at funerals. The foul-up caused a tremendous uproar especially when it was later found that the MCA had played a hand in the unpleasant incident.

Former PKR youth deputy chief

Meanwhile, TIBAI is founded by former PKR deputy youth chief Muhammad Zahid Arip, who has since defected to the Umno side of the political divide. Its goals are simple - to carry out an anti-Anwar campaign ahead of the 13th general election widely expected to be cally by mid-June.

"We will go down to the constituencies won by PKR and to be contested by the party in carrying out our agenda of making people realise who Anwar really is," Zahid told a news conference on Wednesday.

"Since PKR's establishment, 28 of its of top leaders have left the party, thus I can conclude that something is not right in PKR. We've seen in his ceramah that Anwar has run out of ideas and his speeches lacked substance except running down the government under the leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak."

Malays at a crossroads

Indeed, the Malay community is now at a critical crossroad. Najib, also the Umno president, has failed to stem the slide in his party which has dominated Malaysian and Malay politics for the past 5 decades. Corruption is now endemic and Umno leaders dare to openly defend colleagues caught red-handed in improper activities.

Hence the need to chop down Anwar's credibility. The 64-year-old former deputy prime minister is probably the most famous Malay leader in the world today. He is seen as a reform icon and associated with positive change.

Whereas Najib has disgraced himself with his flip-flops on the international stage and is now heavily implicated in the French hearing of the Scorpenes bribery scandal. At 58, Najib is also the only Malay prime minister to have ever been called a "champion of double-talk" by the influential Washington Post.

Contrary to Zahid's claim, many within the Malay community have already got a whiff of which way the wind is blowing and are crossing over the Pakatan Rakyat side of the divide. The exodus out of Umno has already begun and PKR leaders have said this will snowball once the GE-13 is announced.

Malaysia Chronicle