In defence of Maria Chin

Perkasa President Ibrahim Ali should not take offence when others label him and the Malay rights group as ‘extremists.’

This is, after all, based on people’s observation, and I share the same views as Maria Chin Abdullah, the current chairperson of the Bersih 2.0 steering committee.

Chin has whipped up the support of over 500,000 Malaysians during the last Bersih 4 event, especially from people who occupy the middle ground.

This includes people of all races who believe that the country’s ruling party has failed to ensure a clean and fair election. At the same time, concerned Malaysians were urging Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to step down over the 1MDB scandal.

Even G25 supports Maria and Bersih 4

Even the G25 group of eminent Malays, including Noor Faridah Ariffin was solidly behind the Bersih chairperson. Being a Malay, if she supports Chin, instead of Ibrahim, what does it tell you about Ibrahim and Perkasa?

Where was Ibrahim, a supposedly pious Muslim, when the whole country including his own patron, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, were talking about the scandal behind the prime minister?

Instead, Ibrahim has seemingly been only interested in one thing - to stir up racial and religious sentiments that irk the Malaysian population in general. Did he not say that he would burn the Alkitab, the holy book of the Christian community?

If this is not the utterance of an extremist, who else would make such a statement? I have never heard Chin uttering such words of extremism, despite the fact that she, too, is a Muslim like Ibrahim.

Even in calling Chin a “perempuan sial” (damned woman), this clearly shows the kind of character Ibrahim is as a person.

Time to prove others are wrong

It will be very difficult to shake off the public image for Ibrahim after he has become known as an ‘extremist’ with a hollow skull.

He had tried to improve his image during the lead-up to the 13th general election, but people immediately took offence at his white envelopes.

When he gave the Judas kiss to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, he too was not well-received. So, how will Ibrahim be able to prove to the world that he is not an extremist by the things that he said?

Perkasa is not the only party that claims to be defend the dignity of the Malays. In fact, there are others including the Olympics-linked National Silat Federation (Pesaka) was also claiming to defend Malaysia dignity with the red shirt movement.

Ask any non-Malays, none of these organisations have been successful in restoring respect and dignity to the Malay community. Instead, these organisations have made themselves objects of scorn to most Malaysians, with most people having a mouthful to talk about the Sungai Besar Umno division leader Jamal Mohd Yunos and Pekida president Mohd Ali Rustam.

Ibrahim is no different. He has brought more disgrace to the community than any good, especially in creating harmony between the races. It is no wonder that Chin had the impression that he was an extremist, or in my own definition, a rightist, who isn’t all that right but bordering towards extremism that the country can do without.

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STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008. Mkini