Ibrahim Ali

Dato' Dr. Ibrahim bin Ali (Jawi: إبراهيم بن علي; born 25 January 1951) is a Malaysian politician.

He is informally known as Tok Him.

Ibrahim was born on 25 January 1951 in Kampung Pasir Pekan, Tumpat, Kelantan.

He is the fifth child and eldest boy of 13 children.

His father, Ali Mohamad @ Che Leh was the village head.

He studied in different primary schools.

First it was Sekolah Kebangsaan Padang Mandul, then Sekolah Kebangsaan Pasir Pekan, and then an English primary school in another district, Tanah Merah as was sent to live with his uncle because his parents unable support a big family.

He spent my secondary school years in Sekolah Kebangsaan Islah and did Lower and Upper Six in a private school, Maktab Abadi, where he live underneath the school and would work part-time while studying when he couldn’t afford the fees.

After completed his high school certificate (HSC), he signed up to do a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM, now Universiti Teknologi MARA, UiTM)), but later switched his course to mass communications instead.

He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pasir Mas from August 1986 to April 1995 and again from March 2008 to May 2013.

He is a member of the Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (PUTRA), a component party of the Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) opposition coalition.

. He first elected to Parliament in the 1986 general election for the Pasir Mas seat in Kelantan representing the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) of the then ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

However, he later left the party alongside others and joined the UMNO-breakaway Parti Melayu Semangat 46 (Semangat 46) and successfully defended the seat in the 1990 Malaysian general election.

In 1991, he rejoined UMNO but lost his seat to the Semangat 46 candidate in the 1995 general election.

He was again the UMNO candidate for the Pasir Mas seat in the 1999 Malaysian general election and as an independent candidate in the 2004 Malaysian general election.

He was unable to win the seat in both elections.

Ibrahim also contested as Independent in the 2005 Pengkalan Pasir by-election but lost in the three-cornered fight.

In the 2008 general election, he successfully contested for the Pasir Mas seat on the banner and endorsement of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).

However, Ibrahim subsequently fell out with PAS, and sat as an independent in parliament and indicated a willingness to support the BN government.

After the 2008 Malaysian general election, Ibrahim has founded Perkasa, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and pressure group for Malay rights, which has taken a hardline stance against what they perceive to be infringements on Malay rights.

Ibrahim and the NGO has been notorious for making baseless and controversial statements against non-Malay and non-Muslim groups in Malaysia.

The group opposes abolition of the 30% ownership quota for Bumiputera citizens in government projects allocation.

Claiming that the ethnic Chinese were dominating the Malaysian economy, Ibrahim Said that the Chinese should not be too greedy and symphathise with the Malay population who still lagged behind in certain areas.

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."

He again lost his seat as independent to newcomer Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz of PAS despite BN's decision to not field a candidate for the seat in the 2013 general election.

Ibrahim has resigned twice as Perkasa president, once in 2013 and again in 2018.

Both resignations were rejected by the Perkasa Supreme Council.

He has obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from IIC University of Technology, Cambodia later of his life in 2017.

Ibrahim prior to political involvement was a student activist in his younger days at the tertiary institution and had later joined Pan-Malaysian Islamic Front (BERJASA).

In the 2018 general election, he contested again as independent candidate but lost.

The NGO has been considered the origin of formation of Ibrahim's new party PUTRA later after the 2018 Malaysian general election in 2019.

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.

He has served as the 1st and founding President of PUTRA since May 2019.

He is also founding President of the Malay dominance organisation Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa (PERKASA).

Ibrahim founded a new party; PUTRA in 2019 after the downfall of BN government in the 2018 Malaysian general election and became the party's first president.