AT LAST, FINALLY! Ibrahim Ali JAILED ... for contempt of court

UPDATE 3 KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's most notorious rabble-rouser Ibrahim Ali was sentenced to a day's jail after the High Court found him guilty of contempt over an article that allegedly tarnished the reputation a judge.

No stay of execution was granted. This means the 62-year-old Ibrahim will have to spend the day in detention and be released only at 5pm

"I think Ibrahim Ali and the writer of the article can consider themselves lucky for getting off so lightly. Nonetheless, we are pleased with the verdict. It is certainly the right finding and will send a tremendous message down the line," Sivarasa Rasiah, the lawyer who acted on behalf of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, told Malaysia Chronicle.

Dastardly attack on judge to influence his ruling

They had brought case against Ibrahim and blogger Zainuddin Salleh, accusing the pair of attacking judge VT Singham who had been presiding over a RM50 million defamation suit brought by Anwar against the Umno-owned Utusan daily and its editor-in-chief, Abdul Aziz Ishak.

"It was a dastardly and scurrilous personal attack against Singham to pressure him when he was to deliver his judgement on the Utusan suit," said Sivarasa.

Ibrahim was also fined RM20,000 while the blogger was jailed 4 weeks by High Court judge John Louis O' Hara.

"We applaud the ruling, although we feel the sentence is a bit too short. Nothing personal but I am sure many Malaysians would have preferred if Ibrahim Ali could be kept locked away longer from society," PKR MP for Batu Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"There is no doubt he has hurt many of us, especially the non-Malays with his rabble-rousing ways. We hope the new kid on the block, such as Isma, will take cognizance of this symbolic sentence and curb their extremism towards the minority groups, who have contributed tremendously to Malaysia's growth and development. We do not deserve this sort of treatment from anyone, least of all, fellow citizens."

'Victim of circumstances'

Ibrahim, who said he accepts the ruling, has paid up the fine.

The court authorities allowed him to carry out his sentence in the cafeteria where he had to stay until 5pm. He was spotted having a glass of teh tarik or tea, and when approached by reporters, immediately blamed his plight on the "social media."

"You know me. Although I'm a controversial figure, I have never committed any offense. The problem is, the media spins my words. I'm a victim of circumstances, a victim of the social media," Ibrahim lamented to the press at the court house.

It is is not clear if Zainuddin will appeal his sentence although his lawyer has indicated that he wishes to do so.

Leap-frogging to rabble-rousing

Ibrahim, a former Pasir Mas Member of Parliament who hails from Kelantan state, has had a chequered career as a politician. He is known for his 'leap-frogging' ways or the penchant to hop from one political party to another.

Those close to him blame his 'mulut celupar' or 'loose canon-mouth' for this. They said his argumentative ways often made parties want to sack him and so like a "political parasite", he had to leap-frog from one party to another in order to keep his career alive.

Oddly, despite failing to win any seat in the May 5 general election, Ibrahim is now enjoying his greatest success. While having no real power at all, he has been able to 'make' himself a player in Malaysia's highly complex political arena where Malay racism is the chief tool used to manipulate situations and outcomes.

Ibrahim has been able to achieve this mainly because of the high profile, or some say infamy, generated by Perkasa - an ultra Malay-rights group he founded in 2010. Perkasa was born in the immediate aftermath of a controversial High Court decision to uplift a government ban prohibiting non-Muslims from using the word Allah to describe God.

With the help of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, Ibrahim was able to capture the imagination of the right-wing hawks in Umno. At one point, Perkasa claimed to have a membership of 500,000 - most of whom were also Umno members. This is why the Opposition often refers to Umno and Perkasa as sister organizations.

Najib's tacit green light

Another reason, Ibrahim was able to 'terrorize' or bully the non-Malays with his outlandish protests and often illogical demands was the tacit green light given by Prime Minister Najib Razak, who time and again refused to punish Perkasa or even chide them despite the mountain of complaints from civil society and even from component parties within the ruling coalition.

"I don't see today's ruling as the Najib administration signalling change. To me, it is just the judge making an independent decision. In the last few weeks, we have seen the birth of several new pressure groups like Isma. In fact, my belief is that Najib will use race and religion even more ruthlessly than Mahathir although he may use the new vehicles, rather than Perkasa which is linked to Mahathir," said Tian.

'No face' given

Some of Ibrahim Ali's more memorable antics include distributing cash gifts in a white envelope to Chinese senior citizens during the Lunar New Year, outraging the community as white envelopes are used only for funerals.

His "stock up" threats of another May 13, 1969 racial riots, should the Chinese refuse to stop questioning the Umno-led government's overt racial favoritism of the Malays at the expense of the other communities, are also blamed for deepening the fissures between the various races in the country.

But like his benefactor Mahathir Mohamad, who was hospitalized a day ago for chest ailments, Ibrahim's influence is now questionable.

Just a day ago, Sarawak leaders minced no words telling him off. They had taken umbrage at his calls to the federal government to punish Christians for not complying with the latest court ruling giving Muslims the exclusive right to use Allah.

The 'give-no-face' and 'take-no-prisoners' tone of the rebuke from Sarawak BN leaders such as James Masing and William Mawan underscores the scant respect many in the country now feel for Ibrahim, and indirectly, Prime Minister Najib Razak's Umno party.

“The Malays can stand on their own feet. They do not need people like Ibrahim Ali (Perkasa president) fight for them ,” Masing told reporters on Monday.

“We do not need this kind of people. They will only ‘buat kacau’ (create nuisance)."

Malaysia Chronicle