‘Umno outsourcing racism to Perkasa’

Humayun Kabir

An opposition leader claims that Umno is the hidden hand behind Perkasa, which has been tasked with raising racial issues.

TAIPING: Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) alleged that Umno, after coming under pressure from its Barisan Nasional component parties, has outsourced its racist agenda to Perkasa.

PSM leader and Sungai Siput MP Dr D Jeyakumar recalled how former Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein once held and kissed the keris, uttering seditious words against the Chinese community.

Jeyakumar said this did not go down well with the non-Malays, and many turned their backs on BN.

“Now Umno is outsourcing this kind of racist posturing to Parkasa which is totally outside the party to hoodwink the people into believing that Umno is a changed, moderate party,” he told FMT.

“Umno is being double-faced in using racism and religion on one hand through Parkasa to get the support of the Malay community while (Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak) on the other hand is singing the 1Malaysia unity song to the non-Malays to get their support.

“The policy of using a balance of racism and religion and talks of unity is to make the people hostage to the status quo of power. But this will backfire on BN in the next polls,” he added.

Worried about Bersih rally

Jeyakumar said Umno’s claim to be the saviour of the Malay community for the past 50 years does not hold water after the 2008 general election as the race has woken up to the reality that they are not on equal
economic footing like the Umno cronies.

He said the Malay community no longer subscribes to Umno’s political propaganda of divide and rule as the economic rift between the Umno cronies and the community continues to widen.

The PSM leader reasoned that the silence adopted by Umno with regard to Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali reveals the party’s tacit support for the hardcore Malay movement.

Ibrahim recently said that he will lead a counter rally against election reforms group Bersih 2.0′s planned rally on July 9 and Perkasa should not be blamed for any untoward incidents.

Jeyakumar claimed that Umno is worried about the Bersih rally, and are using fear tactics to discourage people from lending support.