Gerakan president Dr Koh Tsu Koon hailed Umno's move to distance itself from the Malay rights pressure group, Perkasa, saying it would put to rest the assumptions of an Umno-Perkasa axis.

He said that the statement by Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, denying any relations between Umno and Perkasa, had proven that the claim that Perkasa was formed by Umno was baseless.

NONE "The statement also reflects the liberal and moderate stand of Barisan Nasional component parties towards all races," he told reporters after launching the ‘Kamus Kembangan’, an English-Mandarin-Malay dictionary, in Kuala Lumpur today.

Tengku Adnan had said that Umno would not support Perkasa nor its president Ibrahim Ali in the coming general election.

On the dictionary, Koh said, it was timely as the three languages were among the world's five major languages.

    

It was also in line with the Malaysian society's trilingual nature and the 1Malaysia spirit, he said.

Koh, who is minister in the Prime Minister's Department and in charge of national unity, hoped that the Education Ministry could help promote the dictionary.

- Bernama