Ibrahim Ali (Malaysia)

Political career

Ibrahim was first elected to Parliament in the 1986 election for the Pasir Mas seat in Kelantan representing United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. However he later contested in the 1990 election and held the seat for Parti Melayu Semangat 46 (S46) before losing the seat in the 1995 election and in the 1999 election as BN candidate and re-contesting it as an independent candidate in the 2004 election. Ibrahim also contested as independent but lost again in the three-corner fight Pengkalan Pasir by-election, 2005. In the 2008 election, he ran for the Pasir Mas seat on the endorsement of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), winning re-election. However, Ibrahim subsequently fell out with PAS, and sits as an independent in Parliament having indicated a willingness to support the BN government. He again lost his seat as independent to newcomer Nik Muhammad Abduh Nik Aziz of PAS amid BN had stay out of the fray in the 2013 general election, but remains active in Perkasa.

Perkasa

After the 2008 election, Ibrahim founded Perkasa as a Malay supremacy non-governmental organisation (NGO), which has taken a hardline stance against what they perceive to be infringements on Malay rights. He opposes abolition of the 30% ownership quota for Bumiputera citizens in government projects allocation. Claiming that the ethnic Chinese is dominating the economy of Malaysia, Ibrahim Ali was also quoted for saying certain groups of Chinese should be greedy while Malays are still lagging behind in all economic areas.

Controversies

During an interview with Al Jazeera English, Ibrahim denied that non-Malays were being unfairly treated in Malaysia, but emphasised instead that Malays have "sacrificed a lot of [their] interest." The interview was noted for his use of the word "Shit" three times which was bleeped out during the broadcast.

During a 2008 parliamentary sitting, he mocked Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman and Bukit Gelugor MP, Karpal Singh for not being able to stand while speaking. He received furious comments from opposition politicians as Karpal is disabled and was forced to make an apology which in it he promised not to stand up in Parliament for a whole month.

In April 2011, he made perceived sexist remarks in Parliament, blaming "wives who neglect their responsibilities" for Malaysian men having extramarital sex.

In May 2011, following the controversy over an alleged plot by Christians in Malaysia to supplant Islam as the official religion in Malaysia which was reported by Utusan Malaysia, Ibrahim threatened to wage "Nerf war" against Christians.

In June 2011, he allegedly warned the community not to turn up in support of the 2011 Bersih 2.0 rally, saying that if chaos erupts, "I believe the Chinese community will have to stock up on food." The remark was perceived as racially charged, with UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin calling Ibrahim a racist. Ibrahim later claimed he was merely giving an advice, but being misunderstood as giving a threat to the ethnic Chinese community. Despite promising earlier to bring 15 thousand Perkasa supporters to counter the Bersih rally, he was nowhere to be seen on the day. He later claimed that he was unwell and did not get his wife's permission to attend the counter rally.

In January 2012 during an event celebrating the Chinese New Year, in an incident which has come to be known as "white ang pow", he distributed small monetary gifts that were contained within white envelopes instead of red ones. White ang pows are customarily handed out only at funerals. Some described the choice of colour a deliberate attempt to remind the Chinese community, however, a spokesman said rather than turning away the greater than expected number of guests empty handed, white envelopes were used when they ran out of red ones.

In January 2013,. At least a dozen police reports have been made against him as a result of his actions, but despite the clearly seditious nature of his statement, the authorities have so far been reluctant to press charges. This has led the public to accuse the government of selective prosecution, as Ibrahim Ali is known to be aligned towards the ruling UMNO-BN party.

In September 2013 Ibrahim Ali expressed protest and opposed any attempts to bring the remains of the former secretary-general of the Malayan Communist Party, Chin Peng back to Malaysia. He said that he will never allow Chin Peng to return to Malaysian regardless whether he is alive or dead. He also said any record of Chin Peng should be erased from the annals of the country's history and kept from the eyes of the younger generation, adding that Chin Peng's remains should be "tossed into the air". Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali warned Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) not to upset the Malays by insisting that the Malaysian government should allow Chin Peng's remains to be brought back to Malaysia.

16 September 2013, Ibrahim Ali insisted that RM 1.4 trillion was needed to assist Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Najib Razak's RM31bil Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Plan (BEEP) to increase economic status of the Malay.

On 6 October 2013 Ibrahim Ali has warned of another race riot if the majority of the Foreign Labour remained in poverty, praising Najib Razak of making the right decision by implementing the new RM31bil BEEP intended to increase the economic status of the Malays. He said that the 13 May riots occurred because the Malays were not satisfied. Many critics say that the programme has further entrenched race-based policies and inhibit Malaysia's economic competitiveness which then results in a huge brain drain of many non-Malays.

On 17 October 2013, Ibrahim Ali urged Prime Minister Najib Razak to ban the Malay language bible in Malaysia, commenting that the government had been too compromising and give in to the demands of the Christians in Malaysia as they are not satisfied enough because the Christians insisted on using the word "Allah" in the bible, which he claims that "Allah" can only be used by Muslims in Malaysia. He added that the Malays had been "trodden and spat on" by "ungrateful Christians" and demanded the government to ban the Malay language bible as a retaliation. He resorted to name-calling by describing DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng as a "pig" for defending the Christians right to use the word "Allah" in the bible. He also mocked the Christians saying that the Christians insisted that they use the word "Allah" because they had no name for their own God.

On 19 November 2013, he was sentenced to jail for a day and fined RM20,000 for contempt of court.

Conviction and jail sentence for contempt of court

On 19 November 2013, Ibrahim Ali was fined RM20,000 and jailed one day by the High Court of Kuala Lumpur after being held in contempt of court over an article in the Perkasa website which made disparaging remarks about Justice VT Singam, who had presided over a defamation suit in which opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had successfully claimed damages for libel against the pro-establishment mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia. The author of the offending article was sentenced to four weeks' jail.