Amid growing talk that snap general elections are no further away than the next couple of months, in typical fashion, ultra-Malay rights group Perkasa and Prime Minister Najib Razak's Umno party continued to ramp up their religious and racial rhetoric in a bid to portray themselves as champions of the Malay community.
But not all Malays were happy with their offer to die for the community.
"They are making fools of themselves. The more disturbance they create, the more they irritate the community," MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad told Malaysia Chronicle.
More dead bodies
At a protest held outside the Utusan headquarters on Friday, Perkasa and Umno members noisily vowed to defend the Malay-language newspaper that has widely been condemned for its irresponsible reporting.
The Utusan newspaper is owned by Umno and its editorial board reports directly to the party's political bureau.
According to Malaysiakini, some 80 Perkasa supporters were milling outside the building and were later joined by another 70 Umno supporters.
Together, they shouted their support for Utusan using wild words that pundits blamed on Nazri Aziz, the minister in the PM's Department. Nazri had earlier this morning gave the green light for rowdy and seditious comments made by Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali in the name of "free speech".
"Whenever anyone insults Utusan and the Malay community, Perkasa will be there. This is a warning to all. You have to cross our dead bodies first," bellowed a Perkasa supporter this afternoon.
Just a week ago, Ibrahim Ali had pledged the lives of Perkasa members, promising to die "sprawling in blood" to defend Islam against Christians.
July GE
Gauging by the quickened tempo of political attacks against the opposition and the emotional rhetoric to rouse the Malays and herd them into the Umno fold, many observers believe that snap general elections are much sooner than Najib is willing to admit to.
Many are now convinced it will be held in July. Within Umno, there are opposing camps to such an early date. Former premier Mahathir Mohamad has openly voiced his disagreement.
Those seen as supporting the fiesty 85-year old, who is now in hospital for chest infection, include Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
It is no wonder that with Najib overseas in the United States, Muhyiddin has been vocally warning the public that price hikes were inevitable.
That together with Utusan's recent Christian conspiracy article that many believed was unleashed to create ethnic dissatisfaction so that Najib would have no choice but to defer the election date to 2012.
Mahathir believes that a 2012 GE would raise the BN's chances of regaining two-thirds majority but those in Najib's camp are worried at the way the opposition had swept up the non-Malay seats in Sarawak last month.
"If I were them, I would surely call for GE as soon as spossible. From Sarawak, it is clear, the people's wish for change is still strong. So the longer BN waits, the worse it gets and BN may soon be looking at whether they can even win a simple majority, let alone a two-thirds majority," said Khalid.
"As for Ibrahim Ali, of course we condemn his actions and his terrible rhetoric. But frankly, we believe it works in our favour actually. Our feedback is that it has created horror rather than pride amongst the Malays. The community wants to distance itself from Ibrahim and not embrace him. The other races are also keeping their cool, so let's give Ibrahim and Perkasa enough rope to hang themselves."
Malaysia Chronicle
But not all Malays were happy with their offer to die for the community.
"They are making fools of themselves. The more disturbance they create, the more they irritate the community," MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad told Malaysia Chronicle.
More dead bodies
At a protest held outside the Utusan headquarters on Friday, Perkasa and Umno members noisily vowed to defend the Malay-language newspaper that has widely been condemned for its irresponsible reporting.
The Utusan newspaper is owned by Umno and its editorial board reports directly to the party's political bureau.
According to Malaysiakini, some 80 Perkasa supporters were milling outside the building and were later joined by another 70 Umno supporters.
Together, they shouted their support for Utusan using wild words that pundits blamed on Nazri Aziz, the minister in the PM's Department. Nazri had earlier this morning gave the green light for rowdy and seditious comments made by Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali in the name of "free speech".
"Whenever anyone insults Utusan and the Malay community, Perkasa will be there. This is a warning to all. You have to cross our dead bodies first," bellowed a Perkasa supporter this afternoon.
Just a week ago, Ibrahim Ali had pledged the lives of Perkasa members, promising to die "sprawling in blood" to defend Islam against Christians.
July GE
Gauging by the quickened tempo of political attacks against the opposition and the emotional rhetoric to rouse the Malays and herd them into the Umno fold, many observers believe that snap general elections are much sooner than Najib is willing to admit to.
Many are now convinced it will be held in July. Within Umno, there are opposing camps to such an early date. Former premier Mahathir Mohamad has openly voiced his disagreement.
Those seen as supporting the fiesty 85-year old, who is now in hospital for chest infection, include Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
It is no wonder that with Najib overseas in the United States, Muhyiddin has been vocally warning the public that price hikes were inevitable.
That together with Utusan's recent Christian conspiracy article that many believed was unleashed to create ethnic dissatisfaction so that Najib would have no choice but to defer the election date to 2012.
Mahathir believes that a 2012 GE would raise the BN's chances of regaining two-thirds majority but those in Najib's camp are worried at the way the opposition had swept up the non-Malay seats in Sarawak last month.
"If I were them, I would surely call for GE as soon as spossible. From Sarawak, it is clear, the people's wish for change is still strong. So the longer BN waits, the worse it gets and BN may soon be looking at whether they can even win a simple majority, let alone a two-thirds majority," said Khalid.
"As for Ibrahim Ali, of course we condemn his actions and his terrible rhetoric. But frankly, we believe it works in our favour actually. Our feedback is that it has created horror rather than pride amongst the Malays. The community wants to distance itself from Ibrahim and not embrace him. The other races are also keeping their cool, so let's give Ibrahim and Perkasa enough rope to hang themselves."
Malaysia Chronicle
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