KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Gerakan’s newly-elected president Mah Siew Keong denounced Perkasa’s Datuk Ibrahim Ali today as a publicity-hungry politician whose vote was not needed in elections.
Mah said that the Barisan Nasional (BN) party was not afraid of the Malay rights group leader’s threat to tell voters to support the DAP, instead of Gerakan.
“Gerakan is against racist politician(s) and we do not need his vote,” Mah told The Malay Mail Online today.
“I think Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa (is) always seeking cheap publicity...Gerakan will continue to speak without fear or favour,” he added.
Ibrahim declared a war against Gerakan yesterday, warning the BN multi-racial party that Perkasa members would not hesitate to campaign against its candidates if Gerakan insisted on branding the NGO as an enemy of multi-racial Malaysia.
The outspoken politician also said it was ridiculous for Gerakan to blame Perkasa for BN’s declining support among the non-Malays in the last two general elections, noting that the problem existed even before the Malay right-wing group was formed.
Senior Gerakan leader Datuk Chang Ko Youn said last Saturday that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had never supported Perkasa’s extremist politics, despite having never openly criticised the Malay rights group.
Chang claimed that in all of Gerakan’s “dealings” with Najib, the prime minister had repeatedly voiced his opposition to Perkasa’s communal agenda.
