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KUALA LUMPUR – As the Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership continues to refrain from publicly denouncing Perkasa, some of its leaders here have expressed mixed views on the Malay rights group and its influence on today’s politics. While many agreed that the controversial Malay rights group only represents a small portion of the Malay community, one Umno supreme council member was quick to disagree with this sentiment. Instead, Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican defended Perkasa’s right-leaning fight in Malay issues, even claiming their views were representative of a “great deal of the Malay population”.
He refused to state outright that the controversial group backed by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad represents a majority of Malays here, but stressed on the importance of looking at the “crux of issues that they fight for”. “They might seem ultra-Malay but you have to understand that they get frustrated too when people touch on issues such as the Allah word, people can debate about it, but it is sensitive to some Muslims. “Do understand that this has to do with their beliefs,” he told the Malay Mail Online in a phone interview.
Last month, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Home Ministry’s decision to ban the Catholic Church from referring to God as “Allah” in its weekly, Herald, was justified, finding that the use of the Arabic word was not integral to the practice of the Christian faith. The decision appeared to drive a deeper wedge in interfaith relations between Christians and Muslims here, with Perkasa leading the pack of conservative Malays in defending the court’s decision. But Reezal, a senior Umno leader, said Perkasa’s views should not be blown out of proportion. “Don’t just take one way of evaluating people and try to apply in a general way, that is the wrong thing to do. “I wouldn’t say Perkasa is not relevant, they have certain issues that are pertinent to the Malays.
“I have to say Perkasa has been fighting for the Malay base,” he said, adding that the right-wing group, along with others like the Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) will continue to stay at the forefront of Malaysian politics for sometime. But Reezal’s views were not shared by some of his colleagues in the BN who believe that Perkasa should be shunned as merely a fringe group that does not represent the voice of the majority. Umno MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, a known progressive, said the purported insignificance of Perkasa was proven when two of its top leaders failed their bids to win seats in the just-concluded 13th general election. “They are a fringe group. They are not gaining traction as proven by their party leaders loss in the GE ie Ibrahim Ali and Zul Noordin.
“They seem to be prominent because media gives them coverage. Overall the govt has not complied to their demands,” he told the Malay Mail Online via text message, referring to Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali and vice-president Datuk Zulkifli Noordin. Both men, despite earning the blessings of the BN leadership for the election contest, failed to snap up seats in the polls. Joining his BN colleague to weigh in on Perkasa, Rural and Regional Development Deputy Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi said there was no room for extremism in the country. “I think anybody or any organisation with too far right view or near-extreme opinion, there’s no room for them.
“More reasonable citizens should speak out against these extreme ppl, extreme views, majority are keeping silent,” the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) MP for Kapit said over the phone. The rise of Perkasa, championed by its patron Dr Mahathir, has pushed the BN’s anchor, Umno, to veer right in recent years, which is loosening the 13-party ruling coalition’s hold on middle Malaysia. This has come at a heavy cost for BN’s non-Malay parties in Peninsular Malaysia, with both Gerakan and MCA performing disastrously in the 13th General Election. Umno has however, kept the support of its conservative base, while the ruling coalition stayed in power even though it lost the popular vote.