Money politics: ACA report lodged over divisional polls

Seremban Umno division chief Datuk Ishak Ismail lodged a report against a state exco member Thursday for allegedly bribing a branch chairman in the recent divisional elections.

Ishak claimed the state committee chairman had given the branch chief RM1,000 in September to nominate the former for the post of division head.

“I was told that the state committee chairman gave the branch chairman a cheque and I have a photocopy of this,” he said when met at the state Anti-Corruption Agency office here.

Ishak said a friend of the branch chief had made a photocopy of the cheque and handed it to him as he was afraid to pursue the matter.

“When I did my own investigations, it was confirmed that the cheque was made out for the branch chief. I hope the ACA can investigate this as there had been claims of corruption involved in this particular divisional elections,” he claimed.

Money politics: ACA report lodged over divisional polls
Malaysia Star, Malaysia

POLITIK WANG: Mahathir berhak dedah nama

Bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad berhak mendedahkan senarai nama pemimpin UMNO yang terlibat dengan politik wang demi kebaikan parti.

Calon jawatan Naib Presiden UMNO, Tan Sri Mohd. Isa Samad berkata, Dr. Mahathir bagaimanapun perlu mengemukakan bukti kukuh mengenai perkara tersebut.

"Sesiapa sahaja boleh menghantar laporan, malah kalau ada orang lain selain Tun pun boleh hantar laporan.

"Apa yang perlu, mereka kemukakan bukti dan sebagainya kerana menurut Setiausaha Agung UMNO baru-baru ini, terdapat banyak aduan palsu tentang politik wang," katanya.

Beliau yang juga Presiden Persatuan Tinju Amatur Malaysia berkata demikian pada sidang akhbar selepas merasmikan Majlis Penutup Kursus Kejurulatihan Tinju Kebangsaan Tahap 2 di sini hari ini.

• Tun M berhak dedah nama utusan

Dr Mahathir to name Umno members involved in money politics

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has promised to name Umno members implicated in money politics on his influential blog www.chedet.com.

He said he was willing to be sued for defamation and even risk arrest by the authorities because he was not afraid to expose the truth and the identities of such errant members.

“I can’t do anything about the complaints except to hand these over to the Umno disciplinary committee. I will put these names up in my blog.

“I am not afraid of being sued for libel or being arrested by the police. If they can release (blogger and Malaysia Today editor) Raja Petra Kamarudin, won’t they also be able to release me as well?” he said Wednesday in his dialogue with a group of Umno members and leaders, ex-ministers and Malay student groups at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here.

Earlier, an Umno member from the Parit division had complained of money politics in his area and had asked for Dr Mahathir to look into the list of names of those implicated in the division.

“Thank you for lodging a report. I hope there will be more who will come forward to lodge such reports,” he said. Earlier, in his speech, Dr Mahathir said voters would continue to reject Umno or the Barisan Nasional coalition if its new leader continues with the present policies and does not come down hard on corruption and money politics.

“Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has mentioned that he will continue with the teachings of Islam Hadhari. This is not a good sign as it shows that the transition is only in the person, and not in terms of policies.

“The voters did not like the policies that were put into place by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, so they will still reject Umno. So, there is no point in having such a transition,” he said.

Najib had recently pledged to continue promoting Islam Hadhari (Civilisational Islam) when he takes over as Prime Minister, saying that he was a great believer in the concept which was introduced by Abdullah.

Dr Mahathir said at a time when Umno needed a courageous leader to get rid of problems plaguing the party, Najib was merely trying to protect Abdullah’s “face”.

“We have to think whether the person taking over from the Prime Minister will get rid of all those in Umno who are now involved in corruption.

“If he is biased and there won’t be any cleaning up, the rakyat will reject the party. If they end up choosing the Opposition party, that will present us with a dilemma because their leadership is not convincing,” he said.

Dr M to name Umno members involved in money politics
Malaysia Star, Malaysia

Dr Mahathir to submit reports on money politics to disciplinary committee

BERNAMA

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said all the reports received by him on incidents of money politics in Umno would be forwarded to the party’s Disciplinary Committee for further action.

He said the reports would also be submitted to the Anti-Corruption Agency for legal action to be taken.

“If these two means are futile, I will reveal the names of those involved together with the reports in my blog,” he said during a “Dialogue with Tun Dr Mahathir” at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, here, today.

Dr Mahathir said bold action was needed now to restore Umno’s image and position, which were increasingly being tarnished by rampant money politics.

He said the unending problem had caused Umno to be detested by others as it was done openly and excessively.
“If we are not brave enough to act against this scourge, Umno will be destroyed. Destruction awaits us if the situation continues,” he added.

Earlier, in his speech, Dr Mahathir who helmed Umno for 22 years, said money politics was the main factor that could destroy Umno and the whole party structure.

“If Umno is not cleaned out of money politics, the country must be prepared for the downfall of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

“When they (aspirants) use money as bait, voters’ views of them will be gone. They (voters) detest this kind of people. For the next general election, the ones chosen as candidates may be those who can offer money (as inducement) to certain quarters if they are not good enough at apple polishing.

“The people will view them as candidates who got selected through corrupt means. Are the people going to vote for such candidates?"

Dr Mahathir said only party members who did not use their brains would vote for corrupted candidates.

“As I have said before, votes from Umno alone would not be sufficient to ensure victory for a party candidate. We also need votes from non-Umno members who support the party.” He said from his observation, it would not be impossible for BN to lose in the next general election if the voters refused to vote for candidates involved in corruption.

“It’s not impossible. Before the March general election, we thought we would win in Selangor, Perak, Penang and Kedah, but it did not turn out that way,” Dr Mahathir said.

Dr Mahathir to submit reports on money politics to disciplinary ...
New Straits Times, Malaysia

Dr M predicts rampant bribery will bring down Umno at next polls

Thursday November 20 2008
By Adib Zalkapli

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today he expects Barisan Nasional (BN) to be defeated in the next general election because of widespread bribery in Umno.

He said that while he had no evidence to offer, most Malaysians perceived Umno to be a party rife with corruption with many of the candidates in the current party election campaign thought to be bribing their way to qualify in the various contests.

Writing in his popular chedet.com blog today, Dr Mahathir, who maintains a strong cult following, intensified his attack against money politics in Umno and repeated his accusations against unnamed party leaders whom he suspects of bribery.

Without naming any particular leader, he alleged that some candidates who had been trailing in nominations in the early days of the campaign had bribed their way to qualify.

“Candidates who were trailing during the early weeks suddenly obtained more nominations. They finally exceeded the quota and qualified to contest,” said Dr Mahathir.

“What has happened? Some people said (but I have no evidence), a lot of money was spent by those who were trailing earlier,” he added.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is the favourite to win the Umno deputy presidency, qualified to contest just 10 days after the start of Umno divisional meetings last month.

Datuk Seri Ali Rustam and Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib only qualified on Nov 8 and Nov 9 respectively.

If the trend continues, Dr Mahathir said, Umno will be defeated in the next general elections.

“The behaviour of these candidates and greedy Umno members who are prepared to be bribed will lead to the party being looked down on and hated by the Malays, Chinese and the Indians.

“They are watching quietly the dirty deeds of Umno members, as non-Umno members and retired members have no right to comment on Umno. So they keep quiet,” said Dr Mahathir.

“The opposition is also watching Umno and they are keeping quiet. The worse Umno becomes, the better for the opposition. The possibility of them winning is greater when Umno gets dirtier and is frowned upon by the voters,” he added.

He said the disastrous performance of Umno during the last General Election was the result of Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi’s failed leadership but the next elections would be different as the people will reject Umno as a whole, knowing that the candidates and the party practise corruption openly.

The former Prime Minister also warned Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is scheduled to take over the country’s leadership after the Umno polls in March next year, not to continue with Abdullah’s policies, as the transition would then be futile, and Umno would remain unpopular.

“You will be back to square one. And Umno will lose,” said Dr Mahathir.

Dr M predicts rampant bribery will bring down Umno at next polls
The Malaysian Insider, Malaysia

Transparency Needed In Combating Money Politics

Money politics must be combated in a transparent manner because it can cause the downfall of the party if not checked, Umno Youth chief aspirant Datuk Mukhriz Tun Mahathir said.

The menace would also erode the people's confidence in leaders who were trustworthy and had integrity, he said.

"The people will find it difficult to accept leaders who are elected in such a despicable manner because they want leaders who are open, transparent and clean," he told reporters at a ceramah in Kampung Teluk here last night.

He feared that if money politics was not checked now it would result in the people rejecting the incumbent leaders in the next general election.

Mukhriz, who is an Umno Youth executive committee member, said the party elections in March would be more keenly contested than before, judging from the nominations received so far.

Mukhriz has so far received 63 nominations, far exceeding the requisite 39 nominations for the post of Umno Youth chief.


source: Transparency Needed In Combating Money Politics
Bernama, Malaysia

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