Perkasa threatens to take govt to court over race column

(The Rakyat Post) – Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) will drag the government to court should the Cabinet decide to drop the “race” column in all government forms.

Its president, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, said the movement was monitoring the issue and if it found the government to be in contravention of the Constitution, it would fight to the end.

“Perkasa has appointed two law firms to study and file a court action on the decision to drop the race column as announced by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun yesterday.

“The government can do as it wishes but cannot go against the Constitution.

I, as Perkas president, will bring the case to court to ask that the court declare that the abolition of the race colmun is against the Constitution,” he said in a statement today.

Ibrahim also urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa to clarify the Cabinet decision.

Najib had earlier today denied that the government was going to drop the race column.

He said there had been discussions, but the decision was to continue with the current policy.

Gerakan Youth leader Tan Keng Liang, meanwhile, challenged Perkasa to explain which provision in the Constitution had required the government to officially include the race column.

Tan said there was no such provision in the Constitution and that the inclusion of the column was at the discretion of the government..

Also today, Belaun apologised for the confusion which arose after he announced that the race column would be dropped from government forms if it did not bring added value.