Sarawak tells Perkasa to get lost

November 20, 2013

All Sarawak BN component party leaders including Taib Mahmud's PBB have slammed the doors on Perkasa and Ibrahim Ali

KUCHING: The Taib Mahmud administration does not want Perkasa anywhere in Sarawak.

A state minister and a member of Taib’s Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu’s (PBB) supreme council said Perkasa “is not welcome in Sarawak”.

Contentious Perkasa had recently disclosed that they hoped to “get the same kind of support from Sarawakians” as they did in Sabah.

Perkasa claimed it had 45,000 members in Sabah and was “not a racist” organisation. It also claimed to look after Bumiputra rights.

But state Assistant Youth Development Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah was not convinced.

He said the radical group had no place in Sarawak society.

“Perkasa is not welcome in Sarawak. This also applies to other organisations that promote Perkasa’s view.

“We do not want to be another Yugoslavia,” he said citing the country’s disintegration as a result of race and religion.

Abdul Karim said Perkasa should know that their extremist views did not belong in multiracial Malaysia.

Peninsular based Perkasa and its chief Ibrahim Ali have incurred the wrath of non-Malays and especially Christians in the country with their various contentious calls.

Riding on Taib’s strength

Since its formation, post 2008 general election, Ibrahim has been at odds with the non-Muslim communities in the country, particularly the Christians.

About two-thirds of Malaysia’s 1.6 million Christians reside in Sarawak.

Meanwhile alongside Abdul Karim, other Sarawak Barisan Nasional partners have also spoken against Perkasa’s presence in Sarawak.

Parti Rakyat Sarawak president James Masing and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) chief William Mawan have both advised Perkasa and Ibrahim, who are seen as an extension of Umno to steer clear of Sarawak.

The local BN leaders’ views leveraged on Taib’s brazen stand at the PBB convention in October, when he declared and in the presence of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak that “We cannot alter the status quo in Sarawak,” alluding to the terms of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and its 18 points.

Over the weekend Masing further stretched this, when he urged arrogant young federal ministers who treated Borneo leaders like “coolies” to re-read their history.

Masing had also called for review of the Malaysia Agreement and treatment of Sarawak.

In the May general election Sarawak contributed 25 parliamentary seats to enable Umno to retain its hold on Putrajaya. Sarawak has 31 parliamentary constituencies.