The Malaysian Insight

PERKASA faces a tough time ahead in its fight for Malays and Islam, but will continue despite its limited resources, said president Dr Ibrahim Ali.

“We are facing so many challenges and constraints in pursuing the Malay agenda. But when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.”

Ibrahim, during a press conference in Kampung Baru today, said the Malay rights group had been facing financial constraints since its establishment nine years ago.

Despite having 700,000 overall members, only 300,000 were registered, paying members.

“Malays need Perkasa, but when asked to pay the RM10 membership fee, they say they cannot afford it.”

He said given the limited funding, many programmes could not be carried out.

“It takes money to organise a workshop or a congress. We need to feed the participants, at least. That requires thousands of ringgit, including the hall rental fee and so on.”

He said the group welcomed donations from the public and companies, and even political parties.

“We welcome donations that have no strings attached. We want to be able to voice our dissatisfaction, and to advise or remind the people in power (regarding certain issues).”

Ibrahim said Perkasa was marked as an “enemy” by both the government and opposition as it had criticised parties from both sides over their failure in handling issues, especially those that touch on Malay interests.

“When we criticise the government, they say we are supporting the opposition. When we criticise the opposition, we are called ‘Umno lackeys’ and (they claim we are) getting ‘dedak’. But the truth is, we are not with anyone.”

He added that the insults hurled at Perkasa only served to strengthen the group.

Ibrahim said despite the challenges and financial constraints it faced, Perkasa would soon organise a leadership retreat for 200 group leaders, where the focus would be on empowering them. – August 20, 2017.