Recently, money politics and corruption have been occupying central stage with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed leading the condemnation in his UMNO Presidential Address, warning that money politics in UMNO can lead to the ruin of the party, race and country.
I do not want here to touch on UMNO politics of money and corruption, but to express nation-wide disappointment that the latest high-level condemnation of money politics and corruption is not accompanied by a new political will to declare a nation-wide war on corruption, which has become very serious as reflected by Transparency International’s international corruption index for Malaysia for the past two years.
I fully endorse the recent statement by the former Parti Melayu Semangat 46 Deputy President and former Information Minister, Datuk Rais Yatim, who has now returned to UMNO, who is quoted in the latest Far Eastern Economic Review featuring the exclusive interview with the Prime Minister, as saying: “The best way is to allow the Anti-Corruption Agency full freedom. Some heads must roll. You must prove to the world you mean business.”
Unfortunately, neither Malaysian government nor the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) has been able to convince Malaysians or the world that they mean business, especially in declaring war against money politics and corruption in high political places.
In fact, the ACA has not been able to deal effectively or efficiently with corruption or malpractices at lower levels. I will give one example.
Two months ago, it was reported that a report by Tenaga Nasional’s board audit committee had queried mismanagement and abuses of power in Tenaga Nasional Bhd, including irregularities in the award of a contract for underwater logging at the Temenggor Dam in Perak, which allowed Affcom Timber Sdn. Bhd. to log about 8,000 hectares of timber submerged in the dam worth about RM300 million, although the company was not even registered when it was awarded the tender.
Subsequently, in the local press on Sept. 2, 1996, it was reported that the ACA had concluded its investigations into the Tenaga Nasional tender for underwater logging at Temenggor Dam and would recommend that the contract be cancelled a new tenders called.
However, it is nearly two months since that press report, but the ACA had not officially communicated to Tenaga Nasional its outcome or recommendations to enable Tenaga Nasional management to act on the matter.
Questions must rightly be raised as to whether the ACA means business?
Furthermore, if the ACA means business in its charter to combat corruption and money politics, it should set up a task force to investigate into money politics and corruption in the recent Sarawak state general elections.
After the Sarawak state general elections on Sept. 8, where the DAP made the historic breakthrough of winning three state assembly seats, we have the strange spectacle of SUPP leaders denouncing “politics of money” - as if SUPP leaders were not aware that money politics had been the bane of Sarawak politics for over two decades - and even suggesting that the DAP had been able to defeat the SUPP President and Deputy Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Wong Soon Kai, because of the “politics of money”. There was even the suggestion that the DAP paid RM1,000 per voter to defeat Soon Kai.
This must be the most preposterous allegation in the political history of Sarawak and Malaysia, for if the DAP had to pay RM1,000 per voter to ensure that the DAP candidate in Bukit Assek, Wong Ho Leng could defeat Soon Kai, the DAP would have to spend RM5.85 million for the 5,856 votes won by Ho Leng.
I dare state that the DAP was the cleanest party in the Sarawak state general elections. Under the election law, a state assembly candidate is not allowed to spend more than RM30,000 for his election campaign.
I can state without fear of contradiction no DAP candidate had exceeded this limit on campaign expenditure, but I would like to know which Barisan Nasional candidate could claim that his election campaign, including all forms of direct or indirect forms of election expenses, had not exceeded RM30,000.
In fact, it it open secret that there are Sarawak Barisan Nasional candidates who spend more than RM30,000 a day, or even many times more than RM30,000 a day.
There are even Barisan Nasional candidates who spend more than RM30,000 so that they do not have to campaign by engineering “uncontested” situations on Nomination Day. I understand, for instance, that as much as RM1 million had been paid to get intending candidates not to submit their nomination papers on Nomination Day in the Sarawak state general elections - and this may be the reason why there were 19 constituencies declared uncontested at the close of nomination in Sarawak.
Why is the ACA closing its eyes to such blatant money politics and corruption in the Sarawak state generall elections?
(21/10/96)
(End Of Speech)