Perkasa deputy denies receiving Umno aid

(MM) – Umno has never contributed a single sen to Perkasa’s struggle, its deputy president Datuk Abdul Rahman Abu Bakar has said.

The Perkasa leader, in denying Umno supreme council member Tan Sri Isa Samad’s (pic) recent comment that the non-governmental organisation (NGO) has received help from the Malay nationalist party, dismissed the claim as baseless.

“Until today, Perkasa has never received even a single sen in funds or contributions from Umno,” Abdul Rahman was quoted as saying by Malay-language daily Utusan Malaysia.

“Therefore, I dare to say that Perkasa has never been under Umno’s protection, as what was claimed by the Felda chairman recently,” he added, referring to Isa.

Isa said recently that Perkasa had no right to threaten to take over Umno’s role of protecting Malay interests, claiming that the right-wing group was dependent on the Barisan Nasional (BN) lynchpin.

Abdul Rahman was also quoted as saying yesterday that Perkasa had the right to request for aid from relevant government agencies to run community programmes.

“Dong Zong, Hindraf and Sisters in Islam, for example, can ask for funds to run their programmes, so why do you need to question contributions to Perkasa?” he said, referring to various NGOs.

Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali said at the group’s annual general assembly last Sunday that Perkasa was prepared to adopt an adversarial role in the 14th general election, should Umno fail to deliver on the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Agenda.