Make Perkasa pay if rally turns to riots, says Pakatan

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Aug 22, 2013

(MMO) – “I don’t know when and how all these [sic] bigotry will end… but Perkasa, more than others, must be held responsible for heightening religious tension”

Perkasa has a right to protest the Catholic Church’s court claim to “Allah” but the authorities must clamp down on the hardline Malay-Muslim group for fanning religious flames, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) representatives said.

PAS research centre executive director Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad accused Perkasa of being the pack leader in stoking religious sensitivities.

“Religious antagonism has always been a hallmark of Malaysian politics from time immemorial. Of late it has only gotten worse. Politicians from both divides [sic] are all too willing to draw swords at the slightest provocation,” he said in a text message to The Malay Mail Online earlier this week.

“I don’t know when and how all these [sic] bigotry will end… but Perkasa, more than others, must be held responsible for heightening religious tension,” the Islamist party leader said.

The “Allah” issue returns to the legal arena today, with the Court of Appeal set to hear the Catholic Church’s application to dismiss the government’s appeal against the landmark High Court ruling in 2009 that “Allah” is not exclusive to Muslims.

Dzulkefly, who is also a PAS central working committee member, conceded that it is within Perkasa’s democratic right to hold a rally, but pointed out that the matter is already under the purview of the courts and should be left to the courts to come to a decision.

“Surely it is their democratic right to demonstrate. But it is also my democratic right to express my conviction that their presence, much less demonstration is neither necessary nor helpful in out nation’s endeavours to have a better Malaysia,” he said.