To paraphrase a famous quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “The Prime Minister doth protest too much, methinks.”
It would appear that is the case today when Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak is trying to fool the public into believing that the use of “white pows” at Perkasa’s Chinese New Year gathering last Sunday has nothing to do with Barisan Nasional.
Najib also said that the incident was a learning experience for race relations in Malaysia. How can Najib dismiss this extremely disrespectful and insensitive gesture so frivolously, when white packets are traditionally used for Chinese funerals? The failure of the Prime Minister to condemn Perkasa for such a disparaging gesture shows how protective Dato’ Sri Najib is of Perkasa even at the expense of trampling over the sensitivities of the Chinese community.
Now, Najib is quickly trying to distance himself from the fiasco by claiming that Ibrahim Ali is an independent member of parliament and holds no official position, thus he has nothing to do with Barisan Nasional or the Government.
No one believes this. Only two years ago in an Al Jazeera interview, Najib himself had defended Perkasa by saying that they are “not so extreme” if one understood their demands, and that Perkasa can be accommodated by the Umno-led Government. And while he is an “independent MP” by name, Ibrahim Ali has always openly supported BN and Dato’ Sri Najib against Pakatan Rakyat.
On top of that, UMNO and BN has consistently supported Perkasa, attended their functions, and have even adopted their views on national policies. Even MCA has been exposed as openly assisting Perkasa when their Sri Desa Branch Chairman and Seputeh division committee member Dr Tiew Chew Ming was reported to have spoken on behalf of Perkasa as saying that Perkasa fights for all people regardless of race and had also arranged for people to attend this Perkasa function.
The late Datuk Dr Zainal Aznam, a member of the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) that drafted the New Economic Model (NEM), had even blamed the BN Government for submitting to Perkasa by dropping the proposed Equal Opportunities Commission, which was supposed to be part of the NEM. This happened following protests by Perkasa against the NEM.
Compounding this, time and time again Malaysians have seen Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa have been getting away with the most seditious actions and statements. Despite acts such as the burning of Bersih Chairperson Datuk Ambiga’s picture, calling her a “dangerous Hindu woman” and warning the Chinese not to come out on July 9 to join the Bersih 2.0 demonstration because “anything can happen”, no action whatsoever has been taken on Perkasa.
It is thus crystal clear that Perkasa has the support of the UMNO and BN leadership as well as UMNO’s paper Utusan Malaysia, when they can get away with such vile and seditious threats.
Only by openly cutting off all ties and support with Perkasa can Dato’ Sri Najib and UMNO convince Malaysians that Perkasa has nothing to do with BN. The PM must realise that it is his open support for Perkasa that emboldens them to act in an intolerant manner that preaches hate and extremism as well as expose his 1Malaysia as empty sloganeering.
Lim Guan Eng
民主行动党秘书长兼巴眼区国会议员林冠英于2012年2月1日在吉隆坡发表声明：
首相没有谴责土著权威组织的轻视态度，从中可以看出拿督斯里纳吉是如何地维护土权，甚至不惜践踏华社的敏感神经。
套用莎士比亚名著《哈姆雷特》的名言，“我想，首相辩解太多了。”
当首相拿督斯里纳吉企图让人相信，土著权威组织在上星期日农历新年门户开放活动上派发“白包”与国阵毫无关系时，这就叫做愚弄大众。
纳吉也说，这起事件是马来西亚种族关系的教训。传统上，“白包”只用于华裔葬礼，纳吉怎么可以如此轻佻的对待土权这种毫不尊重及不敏感的姿态？首相没有谴责土著权威组织的轻视态度，从中可以看出拿督斯里纳吉是如何地维护土权，甚至不惜践踏华社的敏感神经。
现在，纳吉想要尽速与这起闹剧撇清关系，他说依布拉欣阿里是独立议员，没有官职，因此他与国阵或政府没有关系。
没有人会相信他。在两年前一次接受半岛电视台的访问时，纳吉早就为土权辩护。当时他说，如果人们了解土权的诉求，他们其实“不算太极端”，因此，巫统领导的政府可以容纳土权。虽然依布拉欣阿里以“独立议员”自居，但是他常常公开支持国阵及拿督斯里纳吉，和民联作对。
还有，巫统和国阵还一贯地支持土权，出席他们的活动，甚至采纳他们对国家政策的看法。就连马华也公开支持土权，根据报道，马华斯里迪沙支部主席兼马华公会士布爹区会当然委员张秋明甚至替土权说话，指土权是为全民斗争、不分种族的组织，他还协助安排人们出席土权的活动。
曾经起草“新经济模式”的已故国家经济咨询理事会成员拿督再纳，他生前责怪国阵政府向土权低头，不接受理事会所建议的“公平机会”，这原本是新经济模式的部分内容，却在土权示威过后被删除掉。
加上这一次，马来西亚人一次又一次看到依布拉欣阿里和土权过份的煽动性言论和动作。尽管他们焚烧净选盟主席拿督安美嘉的照片、称她为“危险的印度女人”、还警告华人不要在709走上街头因为“什么事都可能发生”，但是，从来没有人对土权采取行动。
很明显地，土权有巫统和国阵在背后撑腰，还有巫统的报章《马来西亚前锋报》做后盾，他们可以不必为自己的卑鄙及煽动性威胁承担任何责任。
唯有与土著切断一切关系、停止支持他们，拿督斯里纳吉及巫统才可以让马来西亚人相信，土权的所作所为与国阵无关。首相必须要知道，他如此公开地支持土权，只会纵容他们继续胡作非为、鼓吹仇恨及极端主义，也证明他的“一个马来西亚”只是空洞的口号。
林冠英