Despite warning its members away from the Bersih 2.0 rally next month, MCA leaders have flayed Perkasa’s Datuk Ibrahim Ali for leading the public into believing the gathering could turn into a racial riot.
When contacted today, the leaders expressed disgust at the Malay rights leader’s sudden warning to the Chinese to “stay home” on July 9 and “stock up on food as anything could happen”.
“This is unnecessary, what Perkasa said. Why do you have to make it a racial thing?” MCA Youth chief Datuk Wee Ka Siong told The Malaysian Insider when approached in Parliament.
He agreed that Bersih, a bipartisan electoral reform group made up of civil society organisations, was comprised of a variety of races.
MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu said it was no surprise that Ibrahim, known for his pro-Malay race rhetoric in his work for Perkasa, the NGO he founded, had come up with such a statement.
“Whatever he does is racial so it is quite natural for him. We do not agree with him of course... he should not be disrupting public peace. For him to turn it into a racial issue... it is just nonsense,” he said.
Gan also mocked Ibrahim for having a skewed perception of the Malaysian reality, and questioned the leader’s motive.
“He has a funny pair of glasses. He puts it on and views everything as racial. But I do not think we should dignify him with too much publicity,” he said.
Ibrahim has often been at loggerheads with MCA members and leaders who have criticised his Perkasa struggle as anti-1 Malaysia.
Recently, Ibrahim had threatened a holy war against the Christians following a report in Utusan Malaysia alleging a Christian plot to usurp Islam and install a Christian as prime minister.
Ibrahim and his Perkasa have also been viewed as a thorn in the side of the Najib administration, which has been struggling to strike a balance between promoting its inclusive 1 Malaysia concept and keeping the support of the hardline Malays that the group represents.
To condemn the Bersih rally, Ibrahim launched his counter-protest yesterday by burning images of the coalition’s chairman, Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan, and warning the Chinese to stay indoors on the day of the gathering.
When asked if Perkasa’s counter-protest would be more detrimental to public safety than the actual Bersih protest, which is a march to push for free and fair elections, Gan agreed and expressed disappointment at both groups for using force to achieve their goals.
“This is the unfortunate part about our nation. Different groups are trying to show force and strength to promote their respective agendas. We will leave it to them to do what they want but we hope they stick within the parameters of the law and minimise disruption,” he said.
He added that MCA disagreed with Umno Youth’s bid to organise a similar march on July 9, stressing that the party does not believe in taking to the streets to protest anything.
“It does not promote democracy. Why not hold organised rallies in a stadium or a controlled environment? We respect freedom of expression and assembly but we want it to be peaceful and it should not disrupt the lives of innocent bystanders,” he said.
The first Bersih rally in 2007 saw up to 50,000 people take to the capital’s street, before they were dispersed by police armed with tear gas and water cannon.
This time around, PAS has promised to bring some 300,000 protestors in hopes that it will galvanise support for the opposition in the next general election, expected to be called within a year.
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MCA what is the point of just giving lip service only. A small clown like the Frog does not even put you in his sight. Maybe MCA is only good at lip service. Still wonder why the people are deserting MCA?
Ibrahim Ali is scared of Bersih, because it has proven that it can galvanise the opposition into a potent force that can topple the present government of UMNO, that is why Perkasa is hell bent on stopping the 9th July march by whatever means, including bloodshed. Its that simple.
Look MCA, the problem started when you elected CSL as your leader. A leader with a bad record (sex scandal) cannot represent chinese. When CSL talks....in return, Perkasa spits.
Worse still, CSL went to radio talk show together with his son....come on, MCA does not belong to both of you. When I listened to your radio talk, I spit too.
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