Khairy: Ibrahim Ali just a 'jaguh kampung'

The battle between Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar and Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali has intensified, with the former taking to Twitter and calling the Independent MP a jaguh kampung(village hero).

"He's a jaguh kampung politician in a globalised world who's (sic) time is up. He is a obstacle to 1Malaysia," said the Rembau MP on the micro blogging website.

In an apparent reference to Ibrahim's call for his resignation, the young politician (left) merely said: "He's not a Rembau voter, or a member of Umno. He has no business telling me to resign."

Khairy apparently rehashed his statement after giving a press conference at a function in Kuala Kedah this morning.

Malay rights NGO Perkasa first trained its guns on the vocal youngster after he come out to defend his BN counterpart, MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong, whom Ibrahim had been accusing over the past two weeks of "questioning Malay rights and the social contract".

Wee, who is also deputy education minister, had urged the government not to scrap the 1,500 Public Service Deparment (PSD) scholarships for undergraduate studies overseas next year.

He then asked if the government was going to retain only the Mara scholarships, which are available only for bumiputera students.

"If the government is only doing away with the PSD scholarships but retains the Mara scholarships, this will not be in line with the 1Malaysia concept that the government is promoting," Wee had reportedly said.

That caused Ibrahim (right) to lash out at Wee, calling the MCA leader "insolent" and threatening to launch a Perkasa branch in Ayer Hitam - Wee's constituency - to deny him Malay votes in the next general election.

Khairy then rose to Wee's support at a press conference yesterday, explaining that Wee was not questioning Malay rights or even suggesting that Mara scholarships be scrapped, and that Ibrahim had misunderstood the latter's intention.

"I don't understand what is wrong with the statement. It is ridiculous because Wee was not questioning the social contract. He just said that we cannot take away the scholarships," Khairy said.

courtesy of Malaysiakini