Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email “money politics” is a term introduced to well by Malaysia (well, to be precise, by a political party in Malaysia). While the rest of the world uses more the common term – bribery, we invented a new term. Malaysia Boleh, of course!
Interestingly, “money politics” is not limited to intra-party on-goings only, if we are to believe the words of some Pakatan Rakyat leaders. RM60 million!!!! Seriously??? Like that means politician can be a career worth considering for our younger generation! Let’s face it, not everyone will be Tiger Woods or Ronaldo or Bill Gates. But everyone can try to be a politician. it does not really need any qualifications nor technical skills.
The first report sees Perak Pakatan reps saying:
IPOH: Five Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen have claimed they have been approached by agents to cross over to Barisan Nasional.
They are State Assembly Speaker and Tronoh assemblyman V. Sivakumar, Sungkai assemblyman A. Sivanesan, Hutan Melintang assemblyman S. Kesavan, Malim Nawar assemblyman Keshvinder Singh and Buntong assemblyman A. Subramaniam [all Indians. Interesting!].
Except for Sivakumar, the others claimed they were contacted in recent days.
Sivakumar said he was offered RM60mil to cross over last year before his appointment as Speaker.
Sivanesan said he was initially approached before he was sworn in last year, and on Tuesday he received a call to persuade him to cross over.
He said the caller said: “Tunggu apa lagi? Kerajaan dah lari sana. Kalau abang setuju, saya datang sekarang juga bawa abang duduk seminggu.” (What are you waiting for? The Government has changed. If you agree to cross over, I will take you into hiding for a week.)
Sivanesan said he was first approached last year by a man called Amir, and a meeting was arranged after he informed the party leadership.
He said he met Amir, accompanied by two others, at a fast-food outlet in Bidor, and was offered RM5mil and a seat on the state executive council.
He claimed Amir contacted him after he was sworn in and doubled the offer.
Keshwinder Singh said he was offered RM10mil plus the position of the Perak MIC chief and a place on the state executive council about a week ago. [Perak MIC post??? G. Rajoo must be seething with anger!]
“A man who said he was acting on behalf of an Umno leader came to my office in Kampar with the proposition,” he said.
All five assemblymen were present at the High Court as a show of support for Sivakumar who has filed a suit seeking to uphold the resignation of Changkat Jering, Behrang and Jelapang state assemblymen, thus getting the seats to be declared vacant.
The same paper reported another case by Kedah PR reps:
Two PKR assemblymen in Kedah claimed they were offered money to leave Pakatan Rakyat and become Independents after the March general election.
Lim Soo Nee (Kulim) and Tan Show Kang (Sidam) claimed that the offer of several millions of ringgit was made many times by the same man.
“The man last offered me money about a month ago. He offered a large sum of money to leave Pakatan Rakyat and become an Independent assemblyman. I do not know the man,” Tan told reporters at the official declaration ceremony of Pokok Sena as the state’s 12th district yesterday.
Lim said he was also offered a large sum of money but the man stopped making the offer after several months.
Lim and Tan said they reported the matter to the PKR headquarters.
These allegations are being bandied now probably to drive the point that the defectors in Perak were offered similar propositions as well.
