COMMENT Over a simple gesture by the ambassador of a friendly nation to distribute mooncakes to his fellow Chinese in diaspora, Perkasa has nothing better to do than to politicise it.

From being a jaguh kampung (village champ), Perkasa should not take its political agenda to the international arena and embarrass the country.

Instead, it should at least try to understand what was being said by the Chinese ambassador, Huang Huikang before making a fool of themselves or damage what is already a good relationship between China and Malaysia.

What took years to build, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak cannot afford to destroy within six years and six months in office. Najib is solely responsible for whatever his men and those linked to him have done to sour the ties between the two nations.

Unable to face defeat since 2008

Like many other foreign powers, Huang, representing China, would have monitored the current situation in Malaysia, and viewed some of the latest developments with grave concern, especially since Umno and Barisan Nasional were unable to face severe defeat since 2008.

The red shirt rally has recently raised international concerns over the possibility of a clash in what is otherwise a peaceful nation. Although the yellow-clad Bersih supporters are largely peaceful, the contrary can be said of the red shirt and red movement leaders.

At this juncture, it only appears that they are making statements without going through their grey matter, making it hard even for someone like former prime minister Dr Mahahtir Mohamad to understand its objectives.

While Bersih 4 rally had a clear agenda, the red shirt rally had morphed from being anti-Bersih and coming to the defence of Najib, to one that is anti-DAP and anti-Chinese.

And along with it, there is also the urging for Malays to unite under its banners; they think all Malays are stupid enough to believe that they have lost their dignity just because of a bigger turnout of ethnic Chinese during Bersih 4.

Bersih 4 had a better racial mix and its demand for Najib to step down over the 1MDB scandal is well-defined, while the red shirt rally led by Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Mohd Yunos and the red movement spearheaded by one Mohd Ali Baharom who is better known for his butt dance in front of former Bersih 2.0 co-chairperson Ambiga Sreeneevasan’s house, had merely raised ire in the eyes of right thinking Malaysians.

Najib should be ashamed that it is these people who are propping him up, while others even within Umno, have abandoned his ship. His days are numbered.

If Najib has any credibility left in his leadership, he would have put a stop to the red shirts because people can immediately see through the entire plot.

At the time of writing, apart from trying to hype up issues against the Chinese traders in Petaling Street, Jamal ( centre in photo ), who is also known for his fledgling ikan bakar franchise, has threatened to rally the red shirt supporters in Kajang .

If he had been serious about his franchise, he would have earned his own dignity as a successful Malay entrepreneur, with easily over a hundred franchisees across China, but as we know it, a number of the franchisees have closed down in the initial years due to lack of support from the Malays themselves.

For his Kajang rally, Jamal claimed that he had spoken to some disgruntled people in Kajang about some purported neglect by Kajang state assemblyperson Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, as if the issues he raised such as flood and poor rubbish collection, were anything new! Such issues have been common since Independence.

Therefore, with Perkasa now barking on the wrong tree, and Putrajaya flip-flopping in summoning the Chinese ambassador to Putrajaya, Najib has better take a more careful look into the situation himself and tender an official apology on behalf of Putrajaya.

Merely a gesture of goodwill

Huang’s visit to Petaling Street was merely a gesture of goodwill, to promote peace and stability in the region. His job is to promote goodwill between China and Malaysia, and between the peoples in the two trading partners.

There have been numerous trade agreements signed between local Chinese businessmen and their counterparts in China; therefore, there is nothing wrong for Huang to meet the Chinese traders in Petaling Street on the eve of the red shirt rally to distribute the mooncakes.

If not for the red shirt (or red movement, whatever!) rally, the visit would not been misconstrued as Chinese interference into domestic affairs.

Therefore, Perkasa and other individual’s urging for non-interference by the ambassador is uncalled for, because there is clearly no interference into domestic affairs, except Huang making known China’s stand on issues that China has vested interest in.

Even British Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama had expressed their concerns about the country’s state of affairs as well as Najib’s administration, when they came to Malaysia on their official visits. This is never seen as foreign interference into domestic affairs.

The international community, including the International Council of Jurists, has also expressed concerns in the way former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim’s trial went. This is the standard norm in international relations.

Huang did not even touch about Malay rights or privileges, so how can Perkasa justify its statements made recently? Najib’s failure to rein in the right wingers is what leads this country further down the drain.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.