Karpal wants probe over PM’s cheque-for-votes speech
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah SaniMay 17, 2010
KUALAL LUMPUR, May 17 — DAP chairman Karpal Singh today accused Datuk Seri Najib Razak of breaching the Election Offences Act when he told Sibu voters last week “I help you, you help me,” on the eve of yesterday’s by-election.
Karpal said the prime minister’s statement was “disturbing” and should also be investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“This is a little disturbing and it relates to the Sibu by-election in which we won. One day before poling, the PM went to Sibu and this is what he said. He said ‘I want to make a deal with you... can we have an understanding or not? The understanding was quite simple, I help you, you help me.’
“This is an offence under the Election Offences Act, inducing voters to vote on the eve of polling day, making a deal with them,” he told reporters after attending a Rights and Privileges committee meeting in Parliament here.
Najib had made a last-minute pitch in a DAP stronghold on Saturday, when he announced an allocation of RM5 million for flood-mitigation projects in Rejang Park.
“If Robert Lau becomes the MP on Sunday, on Monday I will ask the cheque to be prepared. Do we have a deal or not? We do! You want the RM5 million, I want Robert Lau to win,” Najib reportedly told the crowd.
Karpal said Najib’s statement was “shameful” and “unprecedented.”
“I’m calling on the EC to have the PM investigated. It is a very serious offence. It’s too clear. He said ‘Do we have a deal, if Robert Lau wins, we will give you RM5 million’
“I wonder if the PM knows the law. I’d advise him to carefully go through the Election Offences Act. I think what he has done is shameful. It’s unprecedented,” Karpal said.
He also urged his party members to lodge a police report in Sibu.
“What’s going on? The PM could land himself in jail. If he’s not careful, we may have a by-election in Pekan. It’s as simple as that. I’d advice the DAP leaders in Sibu to make a police report. This is too obvious and too blatant. I don’t think the way money was thrown in Hulu Selangor [was] like how the money was thrown in Sibu, in the light of these statements,
“I think it’s a shameful act on the part of the PM. This is not a commitment, it’s a clear case of blatant bribery. An attempt to bribe the electors in Sibu,” he said.
Karpal reiterated that the MACC must investigate Najib for the alleged offence.
“Yes, the MACC will look into it once a police report is lodged… I think it’s too serious coming from a PM. It can’t be accepted. We don’t want a precedent like this to be set. Of course there have been like this in the past but this one is too obvious to be ignored. It can’t be dismissed,” he said.
The DAP pulled off a surprise win in the Sibu by-election yesterday, defeating Barisan Nasional’s (BN) SUPP by 398 votes in a hard-fought race.
DAP’s Wong Ho Leng polled 18,845 votes compared to BN candidate Robert Lau’s 18,447 votes.
The margin of victory was just a little more than the 395 spoilt votes.
The independent candidate garnered 232 votes - TMI
No comments:
Post a Comment