| One such leaflet, bearing the Perkasa symbol, accuses Chinese of being "traitors" and raises the ire of Pakatan leaders.
Two days to nomination day and the residents of Merlimau are already finding contentious leaflets promoting hate in their mailboxes.
One such leaflet accused the Chinese of being traitors and bears the symbol of Malay rights NGO Perkasa, raising the ire of Pakatan Rakyat leaders.
"This is only the beginning of the by-election and already we are seeing racist issues... the Chinese voters are not happy and feel angry and insulted. They were born and raised here, this is their country," said DAP Bandar Hilir assemblyperson Tey Kok Kiew.
This leaflet explains the content of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and goes on to state that the Chinese are "traitors" to the country, presumably for going against the article, which protects the special position of the Malays and the native peoples of Sabah and Sarawak.
Tey, who is also DAP Merlimau by-election director, said the residents of Taman Muhibbah received the "seditious" leaflets. He said they were put into their mailboxes by a man on a motorcycle at 5 this morning.
Even though the leaflet does not depict the BN symbol, Tey believes the work is a ploy in favour of the coalition's candidate, Roslan Ahmad, as Perkasa is known to be supportive of Umno.
"We want BN to openly declare its stand on this issue, whether or not it supports what Perkasa is doing," he said.
PAS Merlimau deputy by-election director Kamarudin Sidek said Perkasa's participation in by-election campaigns raised alarm bells.
"They say they want to defend the Malays, but doing something like this goes against Malay tatausila (ethics)... Perkasa is an NGO, not a political party, but it seems to be active in this by-election with (its president) Ibrahim Ali too giving speeches," Kamarudin said.
The Pakatan leaders said they would lodge a police report on the matter tomorrow, and have given the NGO 24 hours to admit or deny producing the leaflet.
Perkasa says leaflets not theirs
However, Perkasa earlier today lodged a police report denying it produced or distributed the leaflets.
"We find these leaflets seditious and we believe that they were distributed to provoke the recipients against Perkasa," its Malacca chief Abdul Rahim Osman said.
Abdul Rahim also denied that Perkasa was campaigning for any party in the Merlimau by-election.
He believes the leaflets were distributed in reaction to a Perkasa event titled "Exposing the secrets of the Malay traitor" in Pengkalan Samak, Merlimau, three days ago.
"We never denied that the Chinese have contributed to the country's development. We always take a cordial approach with all parties and work towards racial harmony," he said.
In his police report, Abdul Rahim said the leaflets were found in Taman Muhibbah, Taman Merlimau Baru, Taman Debunga, Taman Seri dan Taman Pasir. |
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