Ibrahim Ali says too many Indians in cabinet lineup

Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali has called for a review on the quota for Indian cabinet members, saying that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's current lineup had "too many (of them)".

He said having four ministers and one deputy minister was not in tandem with the fact that Indian Malaysians make up just seven percent of the population in the country.

"Now there are four ministers and a deputy minister (who are Indian Malaysian), so five [...] There are just seven percent Indian (Malaysians), so how can there be four?

"There are so many more Malay leaders in Pakatan Harapan, why can't they elect them?" he said to more than 200 supporters and members of Perkasa's "jihad" rally at Kampung Bharu in Kuala Lumpur today.

The four ministers in the Pakatan Harapan government are Minister in the Minister's Department P Waythamoorthy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo, Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran, and Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar.

R Sivarasa is the deputy rural development minister.

It was previously stated that the distribution of ministry portfolios was not based on race, but rather on Pakatan Harapan component parties.

As it currently stands, PKR has seven cabinet members, DAP (six), Bersatu (six), Amanah (five), Warisan (three) and Hindraf (one).

Open letters

The call by Ibrahim for a review of the quota comes in the wake of Perkasa's demand for the ouster of Waythamoorthy following his criticism of the police in the initial aftermath of the Sri Maha Mariamman temple disturbances in Subang on Monday.

Waythamoorthy, along with the other Indian ministers, had issued a statement critical of the police's early assessment of the melee, when, in the initial confusion, police had claimed that the riot on Monday was caused by two Indian groups.

It was later discovered that the group of men who entered the temple was from another ethnic group.

The ministers also criticised the police's alleged delayed action in responding to the melee when temple devotees were allegedly attacked by the second group of men, who were later revealed to have been hired to secure the site for relocation.

Touching on the minister's remarks, Ibrahim claimed that Waythamoorthy's words had encouraged India's politicians to submit open letters to the Malaysian consulate.

"Waythamoorthy made the statement on the riots at the temple... accusing the police.

"I believe his accusations influence racist political parties in India to submit open letters to the Malaysian consulate in India, containing all sorts of allegations [...] This has tarnished the country's name," he said at the rally being held in conjunction with Perkasa's annual general meeting.

He was referring to a memorandum sent by Arjun Sampth, the president of the Hindu right-wing nationalist party Hindu Makkal Katchi from Tamil Nadu in India.

Wisma Putra has since criticised the memorandum as "irresponsible" as it contained inaccurate claims that 200 Islamic terrorists had attacked the temple devotees.

He said it could only be a matter of time before Waythamoorthy would be let go.

"If Mahathir is really strict, as I know him to be when he was the fourth prime minister, I want to see how long Mahathir will retain Waythamoorthy.

"Waythamoorthy must be fired."

Ibrahim also warned that the patience of the Malays was running thin over such matters and that Perkasa was ready to "run amok" across the country if needed.

However, he then stated that "running amok" was not to be taken in its literal sense but that any gathering held would be in accordance with the law. - Mkini