Gerakan Youth has challenged Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali to prove that removing the race column from official forms contravenes the Federal Constitution.

Its chief Tan Keng Liang ( left ) was responding to Ibrahim’s threat to sue the government if it decided to drop the race column.

“Gerakan Youth urges Perkasa to seek proper legal advice before stating the removal of the  race column as unconstitutional.

“There’s no provision in the Federal Constitution that makes it mandatory for the government to include the race column in all official forms,” Tan added in a press statement.

He said the insertion of the race column in official forms is at the discretion of the government.

“As such, Gerakan Youth hereby challenges the Perkasa president to state which provision in the constitution makes it mandatory for the government to include the race column in official forms.

“We would like to remind Perkasa not to make empty threats if it can’t even state which provision in the Federal Constitution makes it compulsory,” he added.

Tan said Gerakan Youth believes that the removal of the race column in official forms is the way forward for Malaysia.

“Race discrimination must end,” he added.

Ibrahim’s threat came in the wake of news reports yesterday quoting Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Joseph Entulu that the cabinet decided to remove the race column from certain forms.

However, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak clarified this morning that no such decision was made.

'Who's running country?'

Meanwhile, claiming that Najib’s clarification came after Ibrahim’s statement, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng questioned which of the two is running the country.

 

“Is Perkasa, despite never having won a single seat in the general elections actually running the federal government, or Ibrahim Ali who lost his parliamentary seat of Pasir Mas in the last general elections, the real Prime Minister for Malaysia?” he said in a separate statement.

 

Lim ( left ) said Joseph’s statement is well-intentioned, and it is time for Malaysians to identify themselves as ‘Malaysian first’ after 57 years of independence, although ‘extremism’ by organisations like Perkasa had undermined this with impunity.

 

“This (removing race from official forms where it is not useful, just as applications for government aid) would be a step forward towards creating a single national identity, where whether a person is poor or disabled, it matters not the colour of his or her skin,” he added.

 

However, it was in fact Najib who made his statement on the issue first while officiating a ceremony in Taiping this morning. Ibrahim made his comments around noon.

 

Perkasa may sue gov't if 'race' dropped in forms

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