Not satisfied, Perkasa declares racial 'war' against Namewee

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

In a sign of how emboldened Perkasa has become after its leaders managed to pressure Prime Minister Najib Razak into an embarrassing U-turn, the ultra-Malay rights group has vowed to create more trouble for Malaysian Chinese rapper Namewee when he tours the country to launch his music album.

The words that Perkasa leaders are now using against Namewee are becoming increasingly violent, calling him a coward and accusing him of trying to be a Tionghua hero.

“As we have warned before, from the way they are behaving, Perkasa and Umno are trying to re-create a May 13 type of situation. There is already more than enough proof to arrest and charge the Perkasa leaders involved for inciting hatred and using inflammatory words. The police should act immediately. Why aren't they doing so?” PKR vice president Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle.

Babi, pengkhianiat

Namewee aka Wee Meng Chee

On Tuesday night, about 50 Perkasa members protested outside the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall where Namewee was attending a Youth forum. Despite their rowdiness and racial taunts calling Namewee babi (pig) andpengkhaniat (traitor), the police did not make any arrests.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders have condemned the new Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar for double standards and racial favoritism. They have demanded that he act immediately.So far, the authorities have kept silent despite the obvious deterioration in public confidence.

On Wednesday, not content with the ruckus they created the night before, Perkasa Youth chief Arman Azha Abu Hanifah declared 'war' on Namewee, calling him a coward for not coming out to meet the Perkasa group last night.

“If he was so brave why didn't he step out yesterday? If he is trying to act like a Tionghua (Chinese) hero, then why did he not have the guts to face Malay warriors last night? We only wanted to talk,” Malaysiakini reported Arman as saying.

Tionghua hero versus Malays warrior

Arman said Perkasa members were ready to act as panglima perang dan hulubalang Melayu (Malay warriors), and would shadow Namewee during his tour.“We accept news of his tour with open arms. If he performs inside, we will 'perform' outside too,” he said

Mahathir, Muhyiddin

He also accused Namewee of disrupting the racial harmony in the country with his ‘Nah’ video clip that had lambasted two Malay school principals for hurling racist remarks at their Chinese and Indian pupils.

Again, the Najib administration failed to take action against the two teachers although it is now nearly months since news first broke that they had asked their Chinese pupils to return to China and one of them even likened Indians to dogs.

"The video has disrupted racial harmony. Who made the video? He made a mistake, so why hide behind the police?” Arman asked.

Najib's weak hold on the country

Pundits blame Najib for the flare-up in racial tensions, accusing him of being too weak to stand up to the growing extremism showed by Perkasa and the right-wing members of his own Umno party that include Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and former premier Mahathir Mohamad.

Najib - weak leadership

Earlier this month, Najib and his supporters had tried to distance Umno from Perkasa. Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan publicly announced that Umno rejected Perkasa and wanted nothing to do with it. However, there is speculation that prominent members in the Umno supreme council had threatened Najib with a no-confidence vote if he persisted in abandoning Perkasa.

Hence Najib's decision to U-turn, which also forced Tengku Adnan to issue a denial of his earlier statements.

Perkasa was formed early this year following enormous negative publicity for Umno after Najib gave the green light for mass demonstrations against non-Muslims being allowed to use the word Allah to describe God. Fearing a backlash from the non-Malay eletorate, Umno then "outsourced" its traditional ideology of Malay supremacy to Perkasa.