Perkasa: Malay interests will suffer with leaders like Nazri

Malay interests will suffer in the future with more leaders like Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, Malay-rights group Perkasa said today.

Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali said Malays should now make efforts and pray for new leaders with a strong Malay identity in order to ensure that their future interests will be protected.

“Perkasa is not surprised by the core identity of certain Umno leaders. They prefer to portray a more Westernised lifestyle.

“For sure the Malays are stunned and awed with them…,” he said in a statement.

Syed Hassan said it is therefore unsurprising that Umno can now no longer defend the status of Bahasa Melayu as the national language, with some of its own leaders having already lost their Malay identity.

As a result, he said it is now too easy to find advertisement billboards written in English, as well as English names for buildings, residential areas and condominiums.

This is on top of many Umno and BN leaders choosing to use slogans written in English, he said.

Syed Hassan (photo) was responding to Nazri who had earlier today chided Perkasa for describing the launch of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project on Aug 9 as a “Chinese affair”.

"They (Perkasa) are racist. Who are they (Perkasa)? They are not important, they do not represent anybody," said Nazri, who also asked if the group would condemn him for using the English language.

Thanked Nazri for lowering his stature

In a sarcastic comeback, Syed Hassan earlier thanked Nazri for lowering his stature and responding to a statement by a “mere activist” while at the same time giving credit for Perkasa’s efforts to champion Malay rights.

“So Perkasa is no different than MCA, MIC and Hindraf who are consistently championing their own race.

“But the DAP, MCA, Dong Zong, MIC and Hindraf, Nazri never labelled them as racists,” he lamented.

With Nazri’s supposed recognition of Perkasa’s role to champion Malay rights, Syed Hassan claimed it was also an indirect admission that Umno is no longer fighting to defend Malay and bumiputera interests.

“Because when you call another party racist, then (that means) his party is not racist. If (Umno) is not racist, what race is Umno fighting for?

“Oh… Umno is fighting for all races…,” he said, further claiming that Nazri may not be able to differentiate between the role of the government, a political party and an NGO.

Syed Hassan said while the government has a duty to fight for all races, it must also abide by provisions of the Federal Constitution.

The party, on the other hand, will follow its own constitution, and in Umno’s case, it was stated as a struggle for “Agama, Bangsa dan Tanahair” (Religion, Race and Nation).

“I think everyone knows that ‘race’ in this case is defined as the Malays.

“Does it then mean that leaders from DAP, MCA, Dong Zong, MIC and Hindraf are now greater than Umno leaders in championing the interests of their own races?” he questioned.

Back in April, Perkasa called for the government to be transparent on all major projects involving China by tabling updates on the investments, at least every six months.

China is involved in several ongoing developments in Malaysia, including projects in Iskandar Malaysia in Johor Baru; the RM4 billion Kuantan Port expansion project that will see the construction of a new deepwater terminal; and the multi-billion ringgit Forest City in Johor Baru. - Mkini