The UMNO-Perkasa Relationship

There was an interesting page on Malaysiakini about the relationship between UMNO and Perkasa where the whole good cop/bad cop routine was exposed.

Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised that there are a few people in Malaysia who are not entirely clueless as to how UMNO and Perkasa operate.

The good cop/bad cop routine is usually used when questioning suspects in the interrogation room.

Usually the bad cop enters first. He proceeds to scare the living hell out of the suspect or witness.

Be it throwing tables around, bellowing in rage, or roughing up the witness, he certainly does a good job of intimidating.

But not all witnesses succumb to the bad cop. That's why we have the good cop, who shows up when the witness is still reeling from the experience with bad cop.

He speaks in soothing tones, perhaps even apologises for the behaviour of the bad cop. "Talk to me," he urges gently, "you can trust me."

A lot of witnesses fall for that routine.

In Malaysian politics, UMNO is the good cop, while Perkasa is the bad cop.

Perkasa goes all out to unnerve the citizens, especially the Chinese and Indians. Then UMNO comes in to soothe those frayed nerves.

It is a very effective tag team. Until it is unmasked, that is.

Previously, UMNO used to go out and do the fear-mongering on their own. The old routine of May 13 was rehashed so many times, it's a miracle that people are still falling for it.

But then again, most Malaysians are afraid of their own shadows, so I shouldn't be surprised.

UMNO has discovered that the cow-head protests, the burning of churches and other hate-crime is a blight on its reputation.

So these days they get Perkasa to do their dirty work for them.

Oh yes, you can't have one without the other. You can't have UMNO without Perkasa.