Perkasa: the new Malay ‘right-wing’

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jun 9, 2014

And that is what I propose. Let us talk. Let the Malay right-wing movements and the Malaysian liberals sit down and discuss and come to an understanding. And let us agree to respect our diversities and not regard that as a reason to go to war. If we can agree to coexist and respect the diversity that Malaysia is and not try to impose our values on others, then there is still hope for Malaysia.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

(Social Europe Journal) – Taking stock of the results of the recent European elections is not an easy task. Many commentators have described the outcome as an ‘earthquake’, citing the surge in ‘anti-establishment’ parties, with voters supposedly lured by two ‘extremes’: the ultra-right and the extreme left. But this is a gross simplification of reality. As the Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis put to me in a recent interview, ‘Europeans were not lured by the two extremes. They drifted to one extreme: that of the misanthropic, racist, xenophobic, anti-European right’.

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(Reuters) – Nearly nine in 10 of the over four million Britons who backed the anti-EU UKIP party in this month’s European elections will vote for them again in national polls next year, potentially costing Prime Minister David Cameron vital votes, according to a survey on Saturday.

If that were to happen, it would break the previous trend of support for UKIP in EU ballots disappearing at parliamentary elections. UKIP, which calls for Britain to leave the European Union, won 4.3 million votes and topped the vote last week, scoring a 27.5 percent share, ahead of the main opposition Labour Party and ruling Conservatives.

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Those two news items is just to show you that the whole of Western and Eastern Europe appears to be moving in the direction of ‘right-wing’, as are many countries in the Middle East as well (some are Islamic right-wing, of course). So it is no surprise that Malaysia and many Asian countries are doing the same. It is basically a new global trend.

The definition of ‘right-wing’ or ‘rightist’ would be conservative (or ultra-conservative), reactionary (or militant), conventional (or traditional), un-progressive (or backward), fundamentalist (or orthodox), nationalist (or parochial) and so on. Unfortunately, because of how right-wing movements are perceived (based on those definitions above), ‘right-wing’ is always seen as something negative (meaning racist or extremist).

And that was the message that UKIP sent the UK voters last month: WE ARE NOT A RACIST PARTY! And this message was repeated over and over again in the run-up to last month’s elections and because of that UKIP was able to give the Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dem a run for their money (and may do that again in May next year during UK’s general elections).

When Ibrahim Ali phoned me the day after I published Dear Datuk, you have yourself a fight (READ HERE) and invited me to attend the launch of Perkasa UK and Europe scheduled for Saturday 31st May 2014, I accepted his invitation. I thought it would be nice to meet up after eight years of no contact (the last time we sat down to talk politics was in 2006 or so). Furthermore, I had thrown him a challenge in that article above and I want to demonstrate to him that I do not fear walking into the lion’s den, so to speak.

Anyway, Ibrahim Ali was very busy that Saturday and I too had to run off for a dinner with a friend. This friend and his wife had invited us for dinner to celebrate my wife Marina’s birthday that was on that same day, 31st May 2014. And that was actually why we were down in London, for Marina’s birthday (which had been planned two weeks earlier). So Ibrahim Ali and I agreed to meet for lunch the next day, Sunday 1st June 2014.

There were two other people with Ibrahim Ali and I started the ‘meeting’ by saying that I am not at ease that Perkasa had announced they are opposed to liberalism. I have always supported liberalism and even mooted the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) so that we could defend liberalism. Hence that puts Ibrahim Ali and I on opposing sides.

Nevertheless, I told Ibrahim Ali, I was quite attracted to one part of his speech during the launching of Perkasa UK and Europe the day before. And that part was that Perkasa is not just fighting for the Malays but also fighting for good governance, transparency and accountability.

Now, good governance, transparency and accountability are issues that I have been writing and talking about for almost two decades. And that was why after supporting the opposition for about 30 years, about two-and-a-half years after the 2008 general election (meaning halfway through the last term), I decided to criticise the opposition.

And that reason is very simple. Because the opposition, too, just like the Barisan Nasional government, does not seem to understand what good governance, transparency and accountability means. And that has been proven since I first spoke out almost four years ago. The country is facing many issues, some of which are caused by Pakatan Rakyat.

And if you challenge me to quote at least one example I will accept that challenge and I will utter just one word as this evidence: KIDEX! And if that is not sufficient and you still require more examples then let me give you those ‘more examples’ that you seek: Allah word, Hudud, PKR party elections, DAP party elections, the many JAIS raids on weddings, churches, Bible societies, etc., plus the confiscations of Bibles and other publications (‘deviant’ Islamic publications included).

So you see, it is still the same shit but only of a different smell, or, if you prefer, old wine in a new bottle.

Based on Ibrahim Ali’s ‘official’ announcement that Perkasa is also fighting for good governance, transparency and accountability, I agreed to have lunch with him the next day so that we can discuss what Perkasa’s real mission and vision is.

I made it clear to Ibrahim Ali that when he says Perkasa is opposed to liberalism it makes the whole situation very confusing. How do you define liberalism? In Saudi Arabia, a woman who demands to be allowed to drive a car or to leave her house unescorted would be called a liberal. Is that what we want for Malaysia? Or does liberalism to Perkasa mean wife-swapping parties, orgies, and teenagers in school uniforms having sex on a bench in a public park?

So you see, I explained to Ibrahim Ali, liberalism means different things to different people. And liberalism such as women driving a car in Saudi Arabia is not liberalism in Malaysia (it is ‘normal’ for women in Malaysia to drive a car).

Furthermore, my opinion is that ‘anti’ is a negative word. Hence if you are anti-liberalism your struggle becomes negative. Look for a positive word instead. ‘Pro’ is a positive word. Hence instead of being anti-liberalism (which is confusing to start with because it is difficult to define liberalism) say that Perkasa is pro-morality.

Even non-Malays and non-Muslims can support any pro-morality movement.

So now we need to define morality because, just like in liberalism, morality can also be subjective. However, it is easier to sit down and discuss issues of morality (however subjective that may be as well) than trying to sit down and discuss issues of liberalism.

And I gave Ibrahim Ali one example. My wife does not wear a tudung or headscarf (like, I believe, his wife does). In that sense I am a liberal husband (although the fundamentalist Muslims might disagree with my wife not wearing a tudung). But does that make my wife an immoral person? Hence is there anything wrong with being liberal as long as you are not immoral?

Ibrahim Ali understood where I was coming from and he agreed that maybe the word ‘liberal’ has not been clearly explained and hence people might misunderstand Perkasa’s mission and vision. And he promised that he would clear this confusion up at the earliest opportunity.

I then suggested that we organise a ‘round-table’ in Kuala Lumpur with some Malay and non-Malay liberals (maybe half a dozen or so from each side) so that not only can we ‘liberals’ get to understand Perkasa better but Perkasa can also get to understand us better.

I agreed that there would be some areas where we will not agree. But if we can focus on coming to an understanding on the areas where we do agree, and agree to disagree (like PKR, PAS and DAP) on those areas where we differ in opinion, that would be a good start.

As what the late Tun Ghazali Shafie used to say when he was asked the question regarding whether ASEAN will achieve what we hope it will achieve: “It is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war.” In other words, as long as we can continue to talk we would not resort to violence.

And with that we ended our meeting with a promise that this was just a first step into trying to achieve what the political parties from both sides of the divide either are not able to achieve or intentionally refuse to achieve because they gain more votes when Malaysians hate each other.

Anyway, tomorrow, a group of Malaysian liberals (not just Malays) are going to meet for the first time in Kuala Lumpur to see how our liberal agenda can be promoted and be better understood (even by movements like Perkasa).

Further to that, please look (below) at what some of the liberals that I am talking about are already doing even before we sit down with Perkasa and other right-wing groups.

So do not give up on Malaysia just yet. There are enough of us who wish to see Malaysia work.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK