Perkasa eyes ‘kingmaker’ role in polls
(The Malaysian Insider) – Perkasa believes it can be a “kingmaker” in the next national polls by getting members to withhold votes from candidates and parties that insult Malays or Islam.
Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said the Malay rights group had made a list of lawmakers who committed such offences and was ready to blast instructions via text message to its 300,000 members come polling day.
“All this while, people thought Indians were important despite their small numbers as they’ve become kingmakers.
“Even though they’re few, they can be the deciding factor. Same with Perkasa. It’s very likely that we’ll play this role,” he told reporters at the second Perkasa general assembly here today.
Ibrahim said Perkasa would only focus on seats where offending lawmakers had won by small margins, but was confident the group’s estimated 500 to 600 members per state seat would make a big impact.
He stressed that Perkasa was not against any particular party or race — pointing out that it also had Umno members in its sights — and would target anyone who hurt the feelings of the Malay community.
“They shouldn’t think only they have votes. They shouldn’t think only of getting votes from their factions. Perkasa’s members are not few,” he said.
