The UMNO-PERKASA nexus

September 19, 2010

Najib’s Dilemma over UMNO-PERKASA Nexus

ANALYSIS

www.themalaysian insider.com (September 18, 2010)

Datuk Seri Najib Razak coyness in distancing his UMNO from the PERKASA movement yesterday can be traced back to one fact, that most of the some 300,000 in the Malay rights movement are also members of his party.

Therefore, the prime minister faltered in hammering the movement that some of his party colleagues say will cost them votes in the next general election. The UMNO president’s dilemma is simple, how do you criticise a movement made up primarily of your own members?

He isn’t alone in considering the conundrum. Over in the United States, Republican leaders are grappling with party conservatives who have joined the Tea Party Movement that set out as an anti-tax movement to turn into one that also appears to condone racism.

In many ways, PERKASA is to UMNO what the Tea Party Movement is to the Republicans, who lost the White House in the 2008 presidential elections.

While UMNO did not lose Putrajaya in Election 2008, it lost enough seats to prompt some soul-searching and a change of leadership that appeared to reach out to the non-Malays, prompting its Malay electorate to band together under the leadership of PERKASA chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali.

The independent Pasir Mas MP has turned PERKASA from a one-man band arguing to keep Malay rights and privileges to one urging the government not to rescind any affirmative-action policies and to ensure Malay supremacy (Ketuanan Melayu).

A recent snub by some UMNO officials, including its secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor, has brought a torrent of abuse from PERKASA and its supporters. Tengku Adnan, who is Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general, has said the ruling coalition will fight against Ibrahim in his political fortress Pasir Mas which he won in 2008 while on a PAS ticket.

Najib, however, did not appear to back Tengku Adnan and other party colleagues yesterday when he declared, “No, we do not want to be in conflict with any NGO.”

Najib went further to play down PERKASA’s significance as a pressure group, pointing out that as far as UMNO was concerned, PERKASA was just like any other NGO.“It is just like any other NGO. We have so many NGOs. There are times we can agree, and there are times we cannot agree,” he said.

However, the prime minister took pains to stress that at the end of the day, it was UMNO that was a part of the government. “And what UMNO says matters,” he said but refused later to explain whether he was referring to PERKASA.

Using the Malay rights platform, PEKRKASA has been a major obstacle in the way of Najib’s economic reforms which he has assured would not be at the expense of Bumiputras.

But PERKASA, backed by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is against any attempt to roll back the quotas associated with Malaysia’s affirmative action policies.

PERKASA? I do not know and I don't remember

Despite such conservative ideas, Ibrahim has taken great pains to declare that he is not racist and was willing to work with those from other races who subscribe to his thinking. His stance has won him a growing following made up of disparate groups that include businessmen and disenfranchised ex-servicemen and government servants.

In many ways, PERKASA is similar to what Matthew Continetti of The Weekly Standard described the Tea Party last June: “There is no single Tea Party. The name is an umbrella that encompasses many different groups. Under this umbrella, you’ll find everyone from the woolly fringe to Ron Paul supporters, from Americans for Prosperity to religious conservatives, independents, and citizens who never have been active in politics before. The umbrella is gigantic.”

In April last year, noted economist Paul Krugman wrote in a New York Times op-ed column that “the tea parties don’t represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They’re AstroTurf (fake grass) events, manufactured by the usual suspects.”

Najib’s ambivalence towards PERKASA has made it difficult for his BN colleagues to convince the voters that the ruling coalition has initiated economic, educational and social reforms to be more inclusive and promote meritocracy.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has gone on record to say that he has not heard any UMNO leader promote Malay supremacy but the PERKASA rhetoric has drowned his opinion and unveiled the nexus between the movement and UMNO.

Najib’ reluctance to support his party colleagues reveal that he appears to still rely on the Malay community to win the next general election rather than take the gamble of inclusiveness and appeal to the non-Malay voters who might not support UMNO’s allies in the BN.

It is a move that has led him back to PERKASA, at the expense of being prime minister to all communities in Malaysia and getting their support for his New Economic Model (NEM).

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