KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — Yammy Samat’s departure from Perkasa is inconsequential as there are many other Malays who want to join the activist group, its secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali said today.
Syed Hassan said Perkasa respects Yammy’s right to leave the party if she no longer “believed in fighting for Malay rights”, but questioned her quit announcement just days before the Teluk Intan by-election, which her daughter Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud is contesting under DAP.
“If she really wanted to leave, why leave now, just before the by-election? Why not make an announcement earlier? All this while, there has been nothing. Now, she wants to distance herself from Perkasa,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.
Having said that, however, Syed Hassan repeated that Perkasa has “no problem” with Yammy’s decision.
“Perkasa has no issues, no problem. Leave if you want to, you are free to do so.
“In fact, there are so many more Malays willing to join our cause… our office receives at least 250 applications from interested individuals on a daily basis, so we are not worried at all,” he said.
The Perkasa leader claimed that the group now has over 550,000 members worldwide, and will even be opening a “United Kingdom-Europe” branch office in London on May 31.
“Our president Datuk Ibrahim Ali is already there together with a 30-man delegation. So many Malays over there are fed up with political parties from both sides, they want a group (that) is on the fence which can uphold their rights, issues and concerns,” he added.
Yammy announced her departure from Perkasa today in the wake of a media storm over her links with the Malay activist group.
She said she had been inactive in Perkasa for over a year, adding her decision to formally part ways with the group today was to save her daughter from being further questioned about the link.
“If this causes such a big fuss, then I quit now-lah,” Yammy told a press conference together with Dyana here.
Yammy explained earlier that she initially joined Perkasa since she found Umno to be weak in defending the rights of the Malays.
However, she later distanced herself from Perkasa after the group got more involved in politics.
Yammy also denied that she was ever a leader of the group’s women’s wing.
Dyana said her mother had been a member of Perkasa’s pro-tem committee but quit before the non-governmental organisation held its first general meeting in 2008.
Yammy’s association to Perkasa arose when a photograph of her and Dyana flanking Ibrahim at a dinner feting Umno stalwart Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was posted online.
Ibrahim, who is known to be close to the Gua Musang federal lawmaker popularly known as Ku Li, reportedly organised the dinner to celebrate the latter’s honourary doctorate from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) on March 10.
The photograph was believed to have been posted by pro-Umno supporters to suggest Dyana’s association with the Malay rights group that is in frequent conflict with her DAP.
She later acknowledged the photograph but denied any formal link with the group.
Perkasa began life in 2008 as a one-man pressure group on Malay rights but later grew in numbers and influence after its cause found traction with a largely-Umno audience.
The ubiquity of Umno members among its ranks also led to the perception that the group was an indirect outlet for the more conservative elements of the party.
Dyana will face Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong, 53, in a straight fight for Teluk Intan.
Mah won the Teluk Intan seat in 1999 and 2004, but lost to DAP’s M. Manogaran in 2008 with a 1,470-vote majority.
