BN set for implosion as Umno, Perkasa attack MCA, Gerakan

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Malaysia's ruling coalition BN looks headed for an implosion as Prime Minister Najib Razak's Umno party yanks at one partner after another, either directly or through its mouthpieces Perkasa and MPM, in a last-ditch bid to win support from the Malay community, its only hope following the rise of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's multiracial Pakatan Rakyat.

The latest non-Malay BN leader to get a dose of Umno and Perkasa vitriol was Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon. After a long 'silence', Koh finally found the temerity on Sunday to call on notorious government enforcements agencies MACC, Customs and Inland Revenue to go after the big fish and not just small traders.

But it was a little too little, a little too late for Koh, whose political timidity has earned him a mere 1 percent approval rating according to a recent opinion poll. And pundits say this may be why Umno has decided to go after him 'next'. In the past month, it was the MCA and its “sex video actor” president Chua Soi Lek. Now, it looks like it's Tsu Koon’s turn to receive the full barrage of Umno-Perkasa insults.

“Whoever does not respect the social contract which is (Article) 153 of the Constitution can get out of this country. Go back to the place of their forefathers, do not become hypocrites,” Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali was reported as warning Tsu Koon, the minister in the Prime Minister's department in charge of KPIs.

Ibrahim was miffed because Tsu Koon had said it was better if Perkasa focused on the welfare of the Malays rather than wrangle over their 30 percent equity target with MCA. As for Soi Lek, he attracted the Perkasa chief's insulting sex-video-actor comment after urging the Home Ministry to reverse a ban on the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims.

So ludicrous and extreme have Perkasa and MPM become in their demands that few Malaysians bother with their 'hot gas' anymore. They have even begun to irritate the Malays, whom they profess to champion. So too has the Umno-controlled media, in particular Utusan, for its outrageously racial rhetoric and fabrications that have made it a magnet for expensive defamation lawsuits.

“Perkasa and MPM have to keep on trying to grab attention in order to justify their relevance. But they lack finesse and the way they attack annoys people. We are not bothered with them. But what is interesting is the low esteem Umno is showing MCA and Gerakan,” PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Akin told Malaysia Chronicle.

“It is obvious Umno has no confidence MCA and Gerakan will be able to retain any of their seats. That’s why Soi Lek and Tsu Koon are getting kicked in the backside every day. Soi Lek is now so scared of Umno he has backed off from his 30 percent equity proposal. Both he and Tsu Koon have become the laughing stocks of the country."

The curtains for Tsu Koon and Soi Lek

Indeed Ibrahim’s Perkasa now wants Soi Lek to be arrested for proposing to Prime Minister Najib Razak that the 30 percent Bumiputera equity target be reduced gradually. The proposal was one of the keys resolutions in a 13-point memorandum submitted by MCA to Najib at a high-profile economic congress but Soi Lek has now backtracked, insisting it was just his personal view and not a request.

“Chua Soi Lek, through the resolutions passed during the MCA Chinese Economic Congress, had caused much distress and worry among the Malays in this country. Chua Soi Lek should be placed under the ISA for making these unwarranted demands. If MCA continues like this, we will not vote for any MCA candidates in the coming general election,” Perkasa economic bureau director Zubir Harun told reporters.

Against such Umno bombast, even though unleashed indirectly through Perkasa, it is unlikely that Tsu Koon’s call to the MACC, Customers and Inland Revenue to buck up will be heeded by them or by anyone else in the country at all.

“Action against one big fish is probably better than action against 1,000 small fish,” Bernama had reported Tsu Koon as saying.

But big fish or small fish, the biggest losers are Tsu Koon, Soi Lek and their respective parties. Pundits do not expect either MCA or Gerakan to retain any of their parliamentary seats in the next general election, widely expected to take place after March 2011.

“It looks like the curtains for both men. Their political careers are as good as over because their credibility has been destroyed - not by Pakatan but from the daily caning given by Umno. It is obvious to all that Umno has no confidence in MCA, Gerakan or MIC,” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

“Umno is putting all their eggs in the Malay basket and that’s why Tsu Koon and Soi Lek have to be the punching bags so that Umno can be the hero to the Malays. The BN is already finished.”