Ibrahim Ali: I'm back, alive and kicking
Controversy magnet Ibrahim Ali today strode into Parliament after a month-long hiatus, taking the opportunity to "prove" he’s alive and raring to get back into his pugnacious style of politics.
Controversy magnet Ibrahim Ali today strode into Parliament after a month-long hiatus, taking the opportunity to "prove" he’s alive and raring to get back into his pugnacious style of politics.
Taking a swipe at bloggers and rumour-mongers who had claimed that he had fallen into a coma or was dying, the Pasir Mas MP and Perkasa president (left) said it was time for him to dispel rumours about his health.
"I came to prove that I'm well, despite my doctor's advice to me to take three months' rest," he told a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.
Today is the first time Ibrahim has attended a Parliament meeting after going through a by-pass operation in October.
"I feel sorry for those who hoped that I had died or (was in a) coma," he quipped, to the amusement of journalists.
Ibrahim noted that he has not been sitting idly while on medical leave, dishing out some suggestions that he and Malay pressure group Perkasa intend to follow up on in the near future.
He said that it is strange that Malaysia does not have any museums to commemorate its national heroes and sultans, and more importantly incidents that had shaped the national psyche such as the May 13 racial riots.
He took the example of the Holocaust Museum in Germany, that he said described the many evils that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had committed during his bloody campaign in World War II.
"We should set up a May 13 museum. Look at it positively," he said.
“We need to tell the real story so that the young generation can know for themselves who started the whole thing, who burned the Malaysian flag on May 10, who took to the streets and sparked the riots."
Ibrahim also proposed that the Council of Rulers take a proactive step and set up a royal commission to monitor the government's progress in promoting bumiputera participation in the economy.
He said the council needs to do more to push the bumiputera agenda in tandem with the country's goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020.
"Perkasa will send a memorandum and letter to the Council of Rulers to ask them to set up a royal commission, or at least a steering committee. This is to guarantee we will achieve 30 percent overall bumiputera economic participation by the time we reach developed nation status," he said.
Ibrahim acknowledged that the government has proven its commitment by setting up a bumiputera economic committee headed by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, but stressed that it still needs an independent party to monitor its progress.
