Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa have gone MIA

Mahathir formed Perkasa in 2008 to be Umno’s militant wing and to defend Umno from the ‘Chinese Tsunami’. DAP said 90% of the Chinese are behind the opposition while only 50% of the Malays support the government. So Mahathir created Perkasa and put Ibrahim Ali in charge to serve Umno. Now Mahathir himself wants Umno destroyed and this has split Perkasa into two.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin feels that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should firm up. “What they (people on the ground) want is strong leadership,” he told KiniBiz , revealing that based on feedback he has received personally, many feel Najib is neither firm nor decisive enough. (Malaysiakini, 25 February 2014).

That critique by Tun Daim Zainuddin came less than a year after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the reason why Barisan Nasional did badly in the May 2013 general election is because Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak gave the Chinese too much face while he neglected the Malay voters.

Even after kowtowing to the Chinese, they still did not vote for Barisan Nasional, said Mahathir. In fact, 90% of the Chinese voted for the opposition, whereas Umno’s support base is the Malays. But Najib did not focus on the Malay voters and instead wasted his time on the Chinese who still did not support Barisan Nasional.

(Anyway, Najib has now proven Daim wrong when he sacked so many people who plotted against him since July 2015. But then now they complain that Najib is a dictator after complaining that he is too soft).

In 2014, Mahathir decided that Najib must be ousted but it was not because Najib is too compromising (or too soft) to the Chinese, or, as Daim said, too weak. Daim’s ‘first shot’ was merely to start the ball rolling. The real reason Najib must be ousted is because he did not help Mukhriz win an Umno Vice President’s seat.

It is not that Mukhriz did not win. He won fourth position but, just like in the Olympics, you get medals only for the first three places and you do not win any medals for number four. However, if Najib had told his cousin, Hishammuddin Hussein, to stand down and to make way for Mukhriz, then Mukhriz would have won the bronze medal instead of going home empty-handed at fourth place.

That is the real issue. But, of course, Mahathir could not say he wanted Najib ousted because his son lost the party leadership contest — and that his son lost the party leadership contest because Najib did not help him. So he used the excuse that the Malays are angry with Najib for giving too much face to the Chinese and, after wasting his time with the Chinese, they still did not support Barisan Nasional (the same excuse Mahathir used against Tunku Abdul Rahman in 1969).

Now, rewind to 2008 when Perkasa was formed soon after the general election ‘disaster’ in March that same year when Barisan Nasional lost five states and 82 Parliament seats.

According to Ibrahim Ali, Perkasa is Mahathir’s brainchild and, as Perkasa’s Patron, the old man directs Ibrahim Ali on what to do and calls all the shorts. In short, Ibrahim Ali is merely Mahathir’s proxy to front for the old man. Perkasa is actually Mahathir.

What was the reason that Perkasa was formed and so soon after the 2008 election fiasco on top of that? According to Mahathir (who was fed up that for two years since 2006 he had been trying to oust Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but could not) Umno is weak and no longer looks after the interest of the Malays. So, since Umno no longer cares about the Malays, Perkasa needs to be formed to do the job that Umno is not doing.

In other words, while Umno might be Malaysia’s Sinn Fein (the Irish republican party of Ireland), Perkasa is the IRA (the Irish Republican Army). Both exist in parallel and while one tries to win elections the other is involved in militancy.

But do they not already have that, Pekida, that was formed after the 1969 general election disaster and the race riots that followed that? True, they have Pekida. But Mahathir does not have total control of Pekida. For example, while Mahathir may be the patron of the Kedah branch of Pekida, Abdullah was the head of the Penang branch of Pekida. Mahathir needed a militant movement that he had total control of. And that was why he formed Perkasa and placed his most loyal stooge, Ibrahim Ali, as its head.

But then, as the news reports below show, Perkasa was united and very loyal to Mahathir for seven years from 2008 till 2015. And Mahathir warned Najib that if Umno neglects the Malays then Perkasa was going to replace Umno. However, when Mahathir started attacking Najib, Perkasa split into two between the pro-Mahathir and pro-Najib factions.

Mahathir could not get Perkasa to stand solidly behind him and demand Najib’s resignation. This was just like in the case of Pekida in 2006 when some supported Mahathir and some supported Abdullah. Mahathir could not unite Pekida behind him to demand Abdullah’s resignation, which was why in 2008 Perkasa was launched.

But now Perkasa, too, is not united behind Mahathir. So Mahathir had no choice but to launch a new movement, the Anti-Najib Campaign (ANC). There was no way Perkasa (or even Pekida) will support Mahathir (at least not 100%) to demand Najib’s resignation or plot his ouster.

Have you not noticed that from 2008 to 2015 Perkasa had been very militant and very vocal? They warned Umno that if Umno neglects the Malays then Perkasa might even turn itself into a political party and contest the general elections and ‘take’ all those Umno seats. If Umno fails the Malays then Perkasa is going to take over and replace Umno.

In 2015, the heavy putsch to oust Najib was launched and suddenly Perkasa went silent. First they saw how DAP split PAS by creating PAN. Then Mahathir split Umno. So now the Malays are split into five, if you want to include PKR. The Chinese, however, are united under DAP and Pakatan Harapan (according to DAP they have 90% Chinese support).

The whole purpose of creating Perkasa in 2008, after the 2008 general election disaster, was to make sure the Malays retain political power. Now, the Malays are worse off than in 2008. And the mastermind of Perkasa, Mahathir, is the cause of that. So Perkasa is stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they support their boss, Mahathir, then they would be violating the very Charter for the founding of Perkasa. So it is better they say nothing and do nothing.

Mahathir, Mukhriz and Muhyiddin Yassin have made it very clear that their objective is to destroy Umno. First it was ‘oust Najib to Save Umno’. Now it has been changed to ‘oust Umno to Save Malaysia’. Perkasa was formed in 2008 to defend Umno and to make sure it is not destroyed — and take over from Umno if it can no longer serve the Malays. But now the game-plan is not to save Umno but to destroy Umno.

Ibrahim Ali is a Mahathir diehard although once upon a time, back in the late 1980s, he said when Mahathir dies he is going to kencing (urinate) on the old man’s grave. Now Ibrahim Ali is not able to decide whether to support Mahathir and see Umno destroyed or whether to save Umno, which means go against Mahathir and kencing the old man.

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Perkasa slams Mahathir critic

(FMT, 6 May 2016) – Perkasa has come forward to clear the air after Perkasa Terengganu Information Chief Fakhrul Azman Abu Bakar criticised former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Perkasa Central Information Chief Hassan Basri Muhammad said Fakhrul’s actions were not representative of the NGO and he was instead speaking as a representative of the National Silat Federation of Malaysia (Pesaka) Terengganu. (READ MORE HERE)  

Ibrahim Ali: Perkasa infighting between pro-Najib, pro-Mahathir camps under control

(MMO, 21 Mar 2016) – Perkasa said it has managed to contain the strife between the factions supporting Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Datuk Ibrahim Ali, president of the Malay lobby group, admitted that disagreements between both camps backing the former prime minister and prime minister respectively surfaced online when he attended the March 4 launch of the “Citizens’ Declaration” led by Dr Mahathir that called for Najib’s removal. (READ MORE HERE)  

Dr M is Allah’s gift to Malaysians, Perkasa says

(MMO, 16 Apr 2015) – As more support pours in for Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his highly-publicised clash with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malay rights group Perkasa stepped in today to stand by the country’s longest serving prime minister, labelling him Malaysia’s “jewel” and Allah’s gift to Malaysians.

In a report by Malaysiakini, Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said that while the group is not taking sides in the row between the two leaders, it supports Dr Mahathir’s demand that Najib gives an adequate explanation to all the allegations plaguing his government. (READ MORE HERE)