Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali, speaking at a rally against the Dual-Language Programme in schools, said PAS had proven itself capable of rising up to defend the Malay issues of concern, especially in safeguarding the Malay language.

He urged the NGOs who attended today’s anti-DLP rally to elect a new government. He said that Umno as the government of the day had not been able to take care of the Malay language, Bumiputera scholarships and the Malay reserve land issues.

“Today’s government is a failed government,” he said. “They failed in everything and no longer care about the majority of the population, the Bumiputeras and especially the Malays. I believe that the future of the Malays are no longer Umno and PAS is ready to replace Umno,” he said at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa today.

This is the second anti-DLP rally after the first one held on March 26. However there was a lacklustre attendance, after a last-minute change of venue from Dataran Merdeka.

The rally was jointly organised by PAS and Gerakan Mansuhkan PPSMI. Other notable speakers were PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, PAS vice president Idris Ahmad, national literary laureate A. Samad Said and former deputy education director Rauf Husin.

Tuan Ibrahim blamed the government for playing with the student’s future by continually changing policies. He also wondered if each new change of policy was a vehicle to make more money for some people in the government.

“Every time there is a new (education) minister, they change the policy,” he said. “The students are not guinea pigs. The government should not use them for something that isn’t confirmed to work.”