Otherwise, he said, the non-governmental organisation should just stop claiming that it had a large support base.
“I would like to suggest that Perkasa register as a political party... only then we can really see whether they are as strong or as influential as they claim to be,” he told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.
The Umno supreme council member predicted that if Perkasa switched from being an NGO to becoming a full-fledged political party, it would fail to attract many of his own partymen
At present, Perkasa has claimed a membership base of about 300,000, with Umno members making up for at least 60 per cent of that.
“Now, they are an NGO so some Umno members can join them because they are not political... but I want to see them register and then I want to see how many Umno members will join them.
“As claimed by (former prime minister) Tun Dr Mahathir (Mohamad), they are very popular,” he challenged.
Nazri said that by registering as a political party, Perkasa could then stand up and meet Umno on a level playing field in the next general election.
“I really, really hope they do. Come fight us in the political arena. See how much support they have... how many seats will they win?
“Otherwise, I think they are just nonsense,” he said.
Nazri pointed out that Perkasa’s popularity was only built from the publicity given to him by the mainstream media — singling out Umno-owned Malay daily, Utusan Malaysia.
“They are only seen to be influential because Utusan writes as though they are. That is why I do not think that Perkasa is a force to be reckoned with.... they are only given publicity in Utusan,” he said.
Nazri claimed all the furore surrounding Perkasa and its fiery leader, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, was merely created to help the Pasir Mas MP in the next general election.
“He is an Umno has-been. A reject. So, he is just using his Perkasa to help him win his seat back in Pasir Mas in the next general election,” he said.
Ibrahim was sacked from Umno in 2004 and went on to win in the Pasir Mas parliamentary constituency on a PAS ticket in 2008. He has since broken ranks with the Islamist party and went on to form Perkasa, with Dr Mahathir as its patron, last year.
Since its inception, the group has caused much turbulence in the Najib administration, using its Malay rights agenda as its trump card.
Last week, however, the ruling Umno party finally decided to distance itself from Perkasa, recognising that the rights group could cause further erosion in Barisan Nasional’s support from the people.
In response, Dr Mahathir and Perkasa immediately warned Umno against the snub, claiming that it was an unwise move that would cost the party at the ballot box.
Ibrahim also openly declared that Perkasa did not need Umno’s support or that of any political party.
Yesterday, Nazri continued to insist that Perkasa’s following was not as great as it proclaimed.
“They are not what the people think they are. Only because they are promoted in the papers. Otherwise, nobody knows them,” he said.
He claimed that Perkasa would never be successful if it attempted to infiltrate in PAS’s territory as the Islamist party’s supporters would never abandon them.
“Same goes for us in Umno... we could never convince them (PAS supporters). No matter what, they will support PAS.
“This is why we have to focus on gaining support from those on the fence and the non-Malay voters, too. We have to appeal to them,” he said.
He noted that previously, Umno drew much of its support from the non-Malay community.
“Look at what happened in 2004,” he said.
Nazri said that in order to appeal to the non-Malay voters, Umno needed to treat them well and give them a sense of fairness.
“They are not over-emotional... they are intelligent voters. We do our work and convince them and they will return to us.
“But what about Perkasa? They have no impact,” he said.