The mother of DAP’s candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election and current Malaysian politcian du jour Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud announced she was leaving controversial Malay rights group Perkasa today, after it was revealed she had been part of the NGO from its inception.
Yammy Samat, saying she wanted to save her daughter from the aggravation of being questioned about her involvement in Perkasa, said she would relinquish her membership in the group, after being inactive for over a year.
“If this causes such a big fuss, then I quit now-lah,” Yammy told a press conference in Teluk Intan, with Dyana Sofya by her side.
Yammy had explained earlier that she joined Perkasa because she found UMNO, of which she is also a member, to be weak in defending the rights of Malaysian Malays, reports The Malay Mail Online.
However, she later distanced herself from Perkasa after the group became more political in nature. She also denied ever having been a leader of Perkasa’s women’s wing.
Dyana, deflecting criticism over her conflicting remarks on her mother’s involvement with Perkasa, said her earlier denial on Yammy’s Perkasa membership was made out of ignorance.
“I did not know whether she was a registered member or not… I only found out recently after I asked her,” Dyana said.
Dyana admitted yesterday that her mother had been part of Perkasa’s founding pro-tem committee but had quit before the group’s first general meeting in 2008.
The media’s focus on Yammy’s Perkasa ties, and by extension Dyana’s, arose when a photo emerged showing both Yammy and Dyana flanking Perkasa founder Ibrahim Ali at a function held in honour of UMNO veteran (and once opposition Semangat 46 party chief) Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
Perkasa has been in near-constant conflict with the DAP and other Pakatan Rakyat coalition parties due to what is perceived to be its racist stand on Malay special rights and privileges. The NGO also has few friends among non-Malay Barisan Nasional component parties such as the MCA.
Dyana Sofya will face BN candidate Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Kong in a one-to-one battle for Teluk Intan on May 31.
Photo: Yusof Mat Isa / Malay Mail
