Tee tells Red Shirts: Numbers mean nothing

'What's the use of painting the town red when you're not as united as the non-Muslims?'

PETALING JAYA: Sinar Harian columnist Ridhuan Tee declared today that he would not be convinced that the Malays were politically strong even if the entire city of Kuala Lumpur were to drown in a sea of red shirts.

“The reality is that disunity has weakened the Malays,” said the controversial Islamic preacher.

He said it wouldn’t have taken much effort on the part of the September 16 rally organisers to show that they could muster more support than Bersih did. “Just compel them to turn up, provide the buses, give a little reward, and masses of them will be there. But what do you get after achieving that?”

He lamented that the Malays appeared to be more interested in “showing their red colour” than promoting Islam. “It’s no wonder that not many non-Muslims in our country have converted to Islam.”

He said there was no point in showing that the Malays had the numbers if they were not united. Identifying non-Muslims as Bersih supporters, he said, “The Yellows may be small in number, but they are more united. The Yellows won’t be intimidated as long as the Reds are not united.”

Tee prefaced his discourse on unity with a comment on what he called PKR’s act of “stealing” prominent members of PAS. This was a reference to the defection of Kamaruddin Jaafar and Muhammad Muhammad Taib.

He accused both PKR and the defectors of subscribing to the Machiavellian principle of letting the end justify the means, and thus of unIslamic behaviour.

He made no secret of his sympathy with PAS, saying PKR lacked the spirit of friendship among opposition parties that the Islamist party once showed in refusing to accept former Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim into its fold when he was “kicked out” of PKR.