Global Movement of Moderates CEO Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah last night defended former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi against accusations that the latter had links to gangsterism.

“Of course I know of the existence of Pekida. Within them there are different kinds of groups. Even if Pak Lah is Ayahanda of Pekida, he is of the faction that are not gangsters,” said Saifuddin in response to a question from the floor at a post GE13 forum here.

Earlier, co-panelist at the forum activist Hishamuddin Rais claimed that gangs have been an integral part of Malaysian politics since the 60s.

“Gangs have always been organised and funded (by political parties).And it is no surprise that we find that groups like Perkasa is being funded. The don of Pekida is none other than Abdullah himself,” alleged Hishamuddin.

Pekida, an NGO that is known for welfare helping with family weddings and funerals, has long been associated with gangsterism, but the group has denied this, saying that those may be splinter groups.

Federal Territories Pekida advisor Datuk Hamzah Daud recently told online portal FreeMalaysiaToday that there were those who came out from Pekida and used its name to beat people up and extort money.

He stressed that Pekida, in existence since 1967, is a group that does charity work and are made up of volunteers.

“Pekida is like a father. When his sons does bad things, the one that gets a bad name is the father, he said.

Last year, a five-year research by French PhD holder Sophie Lemiere on NGOs such as Pekida found that it were supposedly loyal to royalty, Islam and the Malay community.

However, Lemiere also found that Pekida is part of a complex network of NGOs that “offer political support, legalise part of their activity, and ease the reception of funds from the ruling party.”

Lemiere, from Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast-French National Centre for Scientific Research (IRASEC-CNRS), Paris, also found that “the main objectives of the group is power, profit and money, which imply that members are involved in illegal activities, and may use different degrees of violence."

Her paper, 'Gangsters and Masters: Connivance Militancy in Contemporary Malaysia' was based on research from 2008 to April last year.