PM Najib will be Investigated but Will MACC Dare Enough to Prosecute It own Boss?

Kuala Lumpur
Sunday, 23rd May 2010

Well Done MACC, But Will They Dare To Charge Their Own Boss?

The national anti-graft authority has agreed to investigate claims that the prime minister committed an election offence during the Sibu vote, with his pledge to solve flash floods there if Barisan Nasional retained the Parliamentary seat.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed said today that the body would probe any and all complaints.

“All complaints against money politics will be investigated by MACC. We will investigate as long there is a complaint related to money politics,” he told reporters after attending a forum by Transparency International Malaysia.

The Election Commission (EC) had sidestepped the issue brought up by the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, saying the MACC was the right body to carry out investigations.

“That is our responsibility. We have to investigate whoever comes in front of us and complains about... money politics or whatever that is related to corruption,” Abu Kassim said.

MACC investigation director Mustafar Ali added that complaints had been lodged against Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement.

“Yes, we have received complaints from several quarters during the by-election. So we have started investigating. We will investigate any party. We have two (complaints), one in Hulu Selangor... and [another in] Sibu.

During a last-minute pitch on the eve of the by-election, Najib announced an allocation of RM5 million for flood-mitigation projects in Rejang Park provided the BN candidate was elected.

“If Robert Lau becomes the MP on Sunday, on Monday I will ask [for] 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 told the crowd.

Mustafar said that the MACC may consider calling Najib in for investigation.

“Not at the moment, but if need be of course we will call whoever [was relevant] to testify,” he said.

He also stressed that MACC was “colour blind” and would not be biased in its actions.

“Yes, we take actions against both parties and as mentioned always, MACC is colour blind. We are really colour blind so we will take action whenever we receive information.

“After [an] investigation, whether or not there is a case... depends on the Attorney-General’s office,” he said.

During the forum, which also doubled as a book launch, Umno’s legal counsel Datuk Hafarizam Harun defended Najib’s actions and claimed that the prime minister had not broken the law.

The lawyer also said that it was the duty of the government to bring development to the public.

“This promise is nothing but politics of development, that Umno and Barisan Nasional is bringing development to the people. If you look at Section 10 in Election Offences Act, [it] states that bribery only applies to all of us as individuals, but not the government,” he said.

I am in the agreement with Datuk Hafarizam that it is a government responsibility to bring about development to the people but why bring the development during the election. One point to think about is about Najib position. When he made the promised, he gave altimatum to the people by saying that he will sign the check the moment BN candidate declare as winner. Remember he being the Prime Minister has a power to approve the check. If someone has a power and with his power he ask something from someone isn't that considered as abused of power , and can be charged as bribery? We hope the action of MACC to investigate Najib not to be end here alone, people knew that Najib had abused his power....even the whole world knew about it, therefore we dont expect to hear from MACC that Najib has no case to answer...We, the rakyat want him to be prosecuted!...Bukittunggal

He argued the Act only referred to a “natural person,” and therefore, Najib was not guilty as he was speaking on behalf of the government.

“So this is the problem, the law only recognises [individuals] but not the government,” Hafarizam said.

However, PKR’s Selayang MP William Leong disagreed and said that Najib was not campaigning as the prime minister but as the president of Umno.

“Sometimes we forget to differentiate between Umno and [the] government. So when a person stands on the podium and campaigns, he is an individual and should be charged,” he said.

Mupok Aku

AGI IDUP AGI NGELABAN

Barisan Nasional “Promise the Moon” Tactic is Always Effective In Iban/Dayak Majority Areas

Kuching
Saturday, 22nd May 2010

Introduction

Promise the moon is an American idiom , which means promise that isn’t likely to be fulfilled. To majority of Malaysian, promise the moon or “janji kosong” or translated as an empty promise , is synonym with Barisan Nasional (BN) campaign tactic especially during the by-election.

"Promise the Moon" is a part of BN most deadly weapon to fight against the opposition in Malaysia especially during the by-election. They will make promises to the voters that if they win the by-election they will given the development worth millions of ringgit . And most of it, if not all were not fulfilled.

This tactic had been very affective in the Malay majority areas in the Peninsular Malaysia, and the Dayak/Iban majority areas in Sarawak. This can be seen during the Hulu Selangor by-election in the Peninsular Malaysia,  and in Sibu-Sarawak by-election  which had just concluded recently.

In Sarawak for example , in the nine (9) Iban majority areas in Bawang Assan,  “promise the moon” tactics by BN had been very successfully in fishing for Ibans' vote.

In my posting today, I am going to concentrate on the effectiveness of the "promise to the moon" tactic by BN in the Iban majority areas during P212-Sibu by-election which was held last week, and also the Lubok Antu by-election held in April 2009.

Dayak Easily Cheated By BN’s “Promises the Moon”

How true is the above statement. Let's examine the result of the two by-elections held in Sarawak since the GE 12. First is the by-lection in Lubok Antu, second followed by the Sibu by-election, and thrdly the promises made by BN during their all year around campaign to the longhouses in their efforts to mentaining  the supports of the Iban.

1) Lubok Antu By-Election (6th April 2010)

Before the by-election, most of the political observers predicted that the chances for BN and PKR to win the by-election were at 50%-50%. But after promised with RM 80 millions worth of project they turned their supports to BN. This is the real mentality of our people in which we must and ought to find ways how to overcome them.  In the by-election, because of chawat mentality of the Iban voters in LA, BN had not only won the by-election but their majority was increased to 1,854 votes compared to the 860 votes that they won through late YB Dublin Unting.

2) Sibu by-election (22nd May 2010)

The just concluded Sibu by-election had also prooven that the  Iban are easily cheated or manipulated by BN. In Bawang Asan, for example, despite the intensified campaign made by the top Ibans' leadership in PR, but there were no significant increase in the number of votes secured by DAP/PR Candidate.

Of the ten (10)  polling centres, only three polling centres had the support of Iban voters to PR/DAP  increased whereas seven centres indicated that Iban votes to PR were declining.

According to the information recieved from the ground, the PR campaign teams to the long houses at the beginning were well recieved, but why was PR lost in the longhouses? Accordingb to the unconfirmed source, during the campaigns, BN had distributed an "ang pow" worth RM 600 per voters plus the distribution of the MRP projects to all the longhouses.

But the Chinese in Sibu who were also promised with worth millions of projects but majority of them still voted for DAP in the election?.

Why can't the Iban just followed what our Chinese friends in Sibu town  did, by taking their RM 600 "ang pow" but vote for PR. But the Iban in Bawang Assan had sold their dignities by throwing their votes to  BN.

3) Another Empty Promises By BN to Longhouse Folks

The longhouse where I came from is situated in N25-balai Ringin and P202. During their recent visit to the longhouse, YB Snowdan Lawan and YB Masir Kujat, had pledged the MRP grants to the longhouse totalling more than RM 75K, but until now nothing have been awarded to the longhouse.

Not only these two liar YBs, in 2008, Jabu the beloved CM blue eyes boy had also promised to provide gravel for Kpg Empaling, Isu and Gayau road worth more than RM 200K, but until now not even any single stone had been given by him. One of the JKKK committee members even suggested to start a "Liar Dumping" or Tugong Pemula for Jabu at Simpang Ubah as a punishment for his "promise the moon" ( Note: Tugong Pemula is a kind of punishment awarded to a  person who lied . Everyone who past by the dumping or tugong will throw what ever rubbish or wooden stick that one can found and throw them into the tugong while saying " bulak Jabu" ..Jabu for example is a name of a person that tell lie, in thisexample I used Jabu....)

How Important is the Iban Areas to PR

If PR is serious enough to taking over the government from BN in the coming state election in sarawak it must take the above weaknesses of the Iban seriously. Without winning the Iban majority areas, PR intention to wrest Sarawak from BN will be remained as a dream.

In order to win the Iban majority areas, another point to consider by PR is in the selection of candidate. The candidate of whose loyalty to the the party is questionable must not be choosen as a candidate. For example, one of the ex-YB who was not selected by his party to defend his sit in GE12 had recently joined the party,  in order to be selected as a candidate. After series of defection by party members in Peninsular, PKR must be matured enough in selecting it best candidates for the election

Conclusion

In order to take over Sarawak government from the Barisan Nasional, PR must first be able to win the Iban majority areas. In order to win the votes of the Iban, following problems that can influent their supports must be addressed ; easily manipulated and recieved bribe by BN , and to avoid  selecting candidate whose loyalty to the party and party leaders are questionable, i.e ex-BN YB that joined the party after he was kicked out by the BN, in order to be selected as a candidate. 

Mupok Aku

AGI IDUP AGI NGELABAN