KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali urged voters to throw their support behind independent candidates in the next general elections if they wanted their interests prioritised.

The former Pasir Mas MP, who lost the 13th general election as an independent to PAS, said independent candidates were not bound by party directives and had the freedom to voice their criticisms on various issues.

"If the people understand, they will choose independent candidates,” Ibrahim told ProjekMMO, Malay Mail Online’s sister publication, in an interview.

"Ever since independence, those who win on a party ticket do not dare to criticise their party. Like on the issues of logging, poverty and unemployment in Kelantan, PAS representatives in the state legislative assembly blame the federal government.

"They don’t dare to blame the state government. If they criticise, they will not be selected as candidates and will not be able to hold positions,” added Ibrahim, who used to be from Umno and PAS, among other parties.

The conservative Malay rights activist said the same applied to politicians from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, pointing out that they would "bash the Opposition in Dewan Rakyat”, but "did not dare to criticise their own leaders”.

"No Umno or BN MP talks about 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) because they’re tied to the party. They vote according to the whip,” said Ibrahim.           

Election 2013, which saw BN losing the popular vote to the then-Pakatan Rakyat coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS, reportedly had a record number of independents, but none won any seat.