ALL eyes on Cabinet meeting: Will BN ministers dare to ask Umno counterparts to stop govt funding for Perkasa

It was inadvertently revealed a fortnight ago that the Federal Government had been funding the extremist, racist and Malay supremacist group Perkasa through various agencies like National Security Council (MKN), the National Civics Department (BTN) and the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), allowing it to spearhead a systematic campaign to incite racial hatred and religious conflict to attack Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia signature policy.

It must be admitted that the Perkasa campaign against the 1Malaysia campaign with the support of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had been quite successful, for in the seven months after the 13th General Elections on May 5, 2013, Najib has yet to enunciate or reiterate his 1Malaysia signature policy in any public platform.

Najib had continued the 1Malaysia gimmicry like Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia and 1Malaysia clinics, but he has studiously avoided all references to the 1Malaysia objective to create a Malaysia where Malaysians regard themselves as Malaysian first and race, religion, region and socio-economic status second.

Perkasa and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s “Malay first, Malaysian second” declaration seemed to have won the day in the Umno/Barisan Nasional government, to the extent that Perkasa even dare to talk publicly about the possibility of replacing UMNO in the future at its annual general meeting two weeks ago.

This was when in the exchange between Umno and Perkasa leaders over Perkasa’s threat to replace UMNO, it was inadvertently revealed that the government had been funding Perkasa in its series of anti-Najib activities and programmes.

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Who would have imagined that the Malaysian government could produce the farce and mockery of the Prime Minister strutting the world stage to sell his “Global Movement of Moderates” and present himself as a model for moderates in the world to emulate, while at home, his own government was funding Perkasa to carry out its extremist, intolerant, racist, religious and seditious campaign to attack Najib’s own signature policy of moderate and inclusive 1Malaysia?

Sabotaging peace and harmony

The Cabinet in its first meeting of the new year must review the subject of government funding of Perkasa to determine who had been sabotaging Najib’s 1Malaysia Policy and “Global Movement of Moderates”.

Or had Najib, as a conscious public policy, been deliberately sabotaging his own signature policy? This would place Najib at the Machiavellian worst.

A week ago, I had posed ten questions to Najib, the Cabinet Ministers and UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders on the government funding of Perkasa, which I had described as “the most abominable government con-job in the nation’s 56-year history which stinks to high heavens”, including:

1. When did the government secret funding of Perkasa begin, in what form and under whose authority? When was approval by Cabinet given or was the secret government funding of Perkasa so secretive that the Cabinet was completely kept in the dark.

2. What was the rational for the government secret funding of Perkasa? Was Najib armed-twisted by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, adviser to Perkasa, to provide government secret funding to Perkasa?

3. Were there other government agencies apart from National Security Council (MKN), the National Civics Department (BTN) and the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) at both the Federal or BN-controlled State Government levels, which provided funding to Perkasa in the past four years, furnishing full details.

4. How did the government secret funding of Perkasa and other NGOs, through an assortment of government agencies, evade the notice, audit and criticism of the Auditor-General in the past four years?

5. Was the Attorney-General aware of the secret government compact with Perkasa resulting in Perkasa leaders enjoying immunity and impunity from arrests and prosecutions for a series of criminal activities, including seditious statements and speeches by Perkasa leaders stoking and inciting racial and religious tensions and hatred, threatening another “May 13”, a “holy war” against Christians and making insensitive and sacrilegious attacks on Hinduism?

Apart from the 10 questions I had posed, which still await answer, there is an 11th question which Malaysian taxpayers would want to know after the Cabinet meeting tomorrow – whether the Cabinet has issued a directive to stop all government agencies, whether Federal or BN-controlled State Government level, to stop all funding to Perkasa.

Can Najib or any Cabinet Minister answer this question after the Cabinet meeting tomorrow or have Malaysians to wait until March when Parliament reconvenes and questions are posed by Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament before this information is made public?

Lim Kit Siang is the DAP adviser