By Wong Choon Mei
The newly-set up Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission - accused of going after only the ‘ikan bilis’ - must show its impartiality and investigate Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak and other senior Umno leaders for blatant abuse of power, said civil groups and critics.
Starting the latest run of criticism against the incoming Umno president was the shocking revelation that the Barisan Nasional federal government would soon award all 27 of its assemblymen in Perak development funds of RM300,000 each.
Additionally, it was announced that each state constituency would receive RM1 million in public amenity projects, from the RM7 billion national economic stimulus package announced by Najib in November.
Said DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang: “Neither Parliament nor the nation was ever informed that the RM7 billion economic stimulus package would be used to prop up the Barisan Nasional”
“This translates to RM307 million for the 307 Barisan Nasional state assembly constituencies while the 196 State assembly seats won by the Pakatan Rakyat are denied the million-ringgit provision under the economic stimulus package.
“This is another blatant example of the Barisan Nasional government treating public funds as if they are party funds completely in disregard of the principles of justice, fair play and good governance.
“It is such cynical abuse of power that has institutionalized money politics and political corruption in Malaysia.”
Under pressure to perform
The 55-year old Najib, who is also Finance Minister and incoming Umno president, is under intense pressure to prove that he can stop the BN from backsliding further, and win back the votes of Malaysians.
He is now in thick of political high drama in Perak, where he is masterminding the defection of at least two Pakatan Rakyat state representatives, in retaliation for the cross-over of the Bota assemblyman, Nasarudin Hashim, to KeADILan.
Just as in the Kuala Terengganu by-election held earlier this month, Najib began pumping up financial incentives in Perak in a bid to keep disgruntled state reps from following Nazarudin out of the BN.
26 of the BN assemblymen in Perak are from Umno, and one from the MCA.
Najib offered me RM50 million to defect
But a fresh scandal has erupted.
KeADILan Ipoh Barat division head Fauzi Muda has claimed that Najib offered him a total of RM50 million last year to induce him and two KeADILan assemblymen to defect.
Fauzi, who has formalised his comments into a statutory declaration, plans to lodge a report with the MACC soon.
He told a press conference today that the two assemblymen were the just-resigned duo of Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu.
If he had accepted Najib’s offer, the Pakatan’s slim majority in the Perak state assembly would have been reversed, and control returned to the Umno-led BN.
“I was taken to Najib’s residence in Putrajaya, where he tried to persuade me to lobby for the crossover of two Pakatan assemblymen to BN,” said Fauzi.
“I was promised RM50 million in return for my services, and told that I would be allowed to allocate part of the money to the assemblymen as I wished.”
Nevertheless, Fauzi rejected the alleged bribe.
“Najib assured me that if I succeeded, the appointment of the menteri besar for Perak would be delayed. However, I left his residence without making any promises as I feared for my safety.”
Fauzi also said that when Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman were charged for corruption last year, he was again approached by the same middle-man to test out the pair.
“I was told that if I succeeded in lobbying for their crossover, the charges would be dropped. But this time, the reward for their defection dropped to RM5 million per person. Again, I refused the offer,” Fauzi said.
Desperate moves must be checked
The Umno-led BN coalition lost control of north-western Perak state for the first time ever during the watershed March 2008 general election. The Pakatan Rakyat formed the new government in Perak, holding 32 to BN’s 27 seats in the state assembly.
Meanwhile, former finance minister and Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah called for a reduction in the powers of the party president in appointing state party chiefs and parliamentary candidates.
Razaleigh said that state leadership should be decided by the state, while election candidates should nominated by the divisions, rather than the current system where power was centralised in the hands of reigning president.
“These reform proposals address the structural issues which make it impossible to eradicate corruption in Umno today with piecemeal changes.
“Because such change will lead to a renewal of Umno’s entire leadership, the beneficiaries of the current system, however blatantly unjust or illegal it is, will block such proposals and throw up superficial measures and token changes instead.”
Asked Kit Siang: “Is the MACC going to end up as another toothless tiger totally incapable of rooting out the culture and mindset of corruption which is steeped so deeply in Barisan Nasional governance, whether at the national or state level?
“Is the MACC at best capable of acting only at the behest of the powers-that-be against political foes whether outside Barisan Nasional or even in Umno?” -- Suara Keadilan
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