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By Teoh El Sen
KUALA LUMPUR: Just days after his wife described him as God-sent, hardline Malay group Perkasa has placed Anwar Ibrahim on less hallowed ground, calling him Satan himself.
And while PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail believes her husband is a messiah on a mission to deliver Malaysia from the clutches of evil, Perkasa's women chief Zaira Jaafar, however, feels that he was dispatched from hell to destroy the Malays.
In view of this, Zaira wanted the opposition leader to be stripped of his honorific Datuk Seri title and all other awards for belittling the “ketuanan Melayu” (Malay supremacy) concept.
“To us, Anwar is not God-sent but a 'syaitan' (satan), sent to destroy the Malays. He is the number one traitor for abandoning ketuanan Melayu," she told a press conference here this afternoon.
Zaira was responding to the debate raging over Wan Azizah's speech at the recently concluded PKR national congress where she called for the “ketuanan Melayu” concept to be abandoned.
"Eventhough his wife is the one who made the speech, Anwar is the main puppeteer behind the agenda to rubbish ketuanan Melayu," said the Perkasa leader.
'We are the original race, we are the lords'
Zaira also accused the opposition leader of twisting historical facts and pretending not to know the meaning of “ketuanan Melayu”.
"Ketuanan Melayu means we are the original race of this land, we are the lords of this land and we cannot be sidelined or removed because we are the true children of the land," she said.
Stressing that the institution of Malay rulers cannot be dismissed, Zaira also questioned why Anwar was not proud of being a Malay.
Since Anwar did not respect the Federal Constitution, she said the Malay rulers must revoke his titles.
"Such titles are deserving for leaders with a human soul. Anwar is a devil in disguise,” she stressed, vowing that Perkasa's women would defend “ketuanan Melayu” till the “last drop of our blood”.
Asked what was wrong with PKR's “ketuanan rakyat” concept, Zaira replied: "There is nothing wrong with it, but what's wrong with ketuanan Melayu?”
“PKR says one thing but does another, just like what they say about nepotism and cronyism," she added.
On Monday, Perkasa Youth chief Arman Azha Abu Hanifah had described Wan Azizah and her newly minted deputy Azmin Ali as “political prostitutes” for deriding the “ketuanan Melayu” concept.
Anwar: It's a master and slave relationship
Meanwhile, Anwar told reporters in Parliament this afternoon that “ketuanan Melayu” reflected a “master and slave” relationship.
“The term ketuanan comes from the word tuan which essentially means master, and the term tuan is only applicable to the rulers,” he said, adding that the concept had only enriched the Umno elites.
He was responding to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, who said that “ketuanan Melayu” was established to protect the sovereignty of the Malay rulers.
The opposition leader also dismissed the claim that Wan Azizah's speech was a bait to fish for non-Malay votes and claimed that the issue was “twisted” by political adversaries.
“It is Umno and (Umno daily) Utusan Malaysia's prerogative to politicise the issue, but they should not cheat or twist the facts and make us seem less Malay because we reject the concept. I think their statements are inaccurate and overly harsh.
“We have explained that we reject the New Economic Policy because it protects only a segment of society while poor Malays, Chinese and Indians are left out.
“So if we truly look into the meaning of tuan in ketuanan Melayu, (it refers to) a person in power, a person who owns, a person of priority. So if a Melayu is tuan, then what about the rest?” he said.
The opposition leader also stressed that PKR was not against Malay rulers, adding that while there was discussion over the power of rulers, “the absolute power is with Umno's ruling elite”.
