The Cabinet meeting tomorrow should come out with a clear position – whether the RM5 million flood mitigation project promised to the voters of Rejang Park in Sibu on the eve of the Sibu by-election polling on Saturday night will be honoured or not.
This is the Sunday Star report “PM woos ‘black area’ folk’ – Najib elicits cheers from voters in Rejang Park”:
Sibu: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak elicited cheers from residents Rejang Park when he announced an allocation of RM5 mil to solve its perennial drainage problem.
The poor drainage and sewerage system in the housing estate are among the reasons why it is a “black area” for Barisan Nasional in past general elections.
This is one example of Najib’s infamous “I give you what you want, you give me what I want” style of campaigning.
Yesterday, however, Najib said he is rethinking his RM5 million campaign promise to Rejang Park, adding that he has yet to decide if he will approve the RM5 million flood mitigation project promised to Sibu voters if Barisan Nasional (BN) won yesterday’s by-election.
Najib offered a “deal” to the people of Rejang Park on the last of his four recent visits to Sibu on polling eve:
“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.”
With whom did Najib strike this RM5 million “deal”? With the voters of Rejang Park and Sibu or with the SUPP leadership in Rejang Park and Sibu?
Is it right, proper, responsible in keeping with the politics and governance of accountability, transparency and integrity for the Prime Minister to act in this fashion?
It was clearly wrong for the Prime Minister not only to act like a public auctioneer but to attempt to buy votes through any form of inducement.
It is doubly wrong for Najib now to renege on the RM5 million undertaking to mitigate the drainage and sewerage problem at Rejang Park, Sibu, as if the RM5 million is his personal money when it is taxpayers’ money to be expended in a responsible and accountable manner in keeping with the precepts of integrity and good governance.
In fact, the only way for Najib to demonstrate that he was not trying to “buy” votes in the Sibu by-election is for Najib to announce that the RM5 million allocation for Rejang Park, Sibu to mitigate long-standing drainage and sewerage problems would be made, regardless of the outcome of the by-election.
Najib is dead right when he admitted that the DAP/Pakatan Rakyat was more creative and energetic in the Sibu by-election campaign than the SUPP/Barisan Nasional – and one such example is the hamfisted and dishonourable tactics of Barisan Nasional leaders using “goodies in exchange for votes”, not far from corrupt practices.
I am glad that the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has said that the Barisan Nasional will fulfil its campaign pledges to the Sibu electorate despite losing the seat by 398 votes.
But does this include the honouring of Najib’s RM5 million pledge for the mitigation of Rejang Park’s flood problems?
What is the stand of the SUPP leadership on this issue – do the SUPP state and Sibu leaders want Najib to immediately issue a RM5 million cheque for mitigation of drainage and sewerage problems in Rejang Park, Sibu or do the SUPP leaders want Najib to punish the Sibu voters for electing Wong Ho Leng as the MP for Sibu?
I call for a clear Cabinet position tomorrow: whether RM5 million flood mitigation project for Rejang Park in Sibu made by Najib on eve of Sibu by-election will be honoured or not.
Najib had promised to sign the RM5 million cheque for Rejang Park flooding problem yesterday – why has this not been done?
Let there be a clear “yes” or “no” as the people of Sibu, Sarawak and Malaysia are entitled to know, one way or another.
If Najib reneges on the RM5 million pledge to the Rejang Park for flood mitigation problems, then it will feature prominently in next month’s Parliament in the debate on the 10th Malaysia Plan as it encapsulates what is wrong with the national leadership and the governance crisis afflicting Malaysia.
Ibrahim Ali, what say you ? Chengho, what say you ? Mamakthir, what say you ? How about some comments straight from your hearts ? Like “pendatangs don’t deserve this allocation”.
Ho Ho Ho – Jibs ‘1’once bitten ‘2’twice shy la – Ho Ho Ho and I’m Malaysian 1st
BEWARE of their next evil move and tricks again!
The money (5 million ringgit) better be not given.
1. If given, this will be considered a bribe. If not given, bribbing cannot be proven
2. Before you know who is the girl, don’t decide to marry yet. Before you know how to mitigate the flood, don’t spend the money. You will likely be wasting money.
3. Government money always ended up in the pockets of BN cronies. If you throw money around to BN like this, they will be spoiled more and will become even more corrupted.
I think Najib has good intention to help. But he did not know that his cronies in Sarawak misled him. He should get rid of Taib and also SUPP Sibu Wawasan team that talks and does not perform.
In order to help the people of Sibu, it may be better to give the money to DAP. The money will not be wasted.
RM5 million is only 1% of the RM500 million Scorpene commission, and yet he has to rely on public money. What a …..
The message that this BN government cannot be trusted, is not transparent, and has zero integrity resonates very well with younger generation voters. During the Sibu by-election, the picture of a Malay lady in tudung holding up a poster of the Rocket and urging a fellow Muslim voter to vote DAP is a very powerful message to the voters of this country.
Together we can usher in a new dawn – but we must all work together seamlessly to get rid of a common malaise called BN.
Below is a blogger comments:-
“If you watch the (Malaysiakini) video, at minute 3:52, Prime Minster Najib Razak said “this is the government that cares for the people”, immediately after he made the “deal” (with the people of Rejang Park).
Isn’t that an irony? Furthermore, he said he is the PM for all Malaysians. He should develop Rejang Park no matter what with no strings attached, unconditionally.
This is much like small kids saying to each other: you friend me, I friend you. You don’t friend me, I don’t friend you.
Najib must set a good example to all government leaders, staff and civil servants. Since he has done this, then all civil servants now have the excuse to bribe. Najib must not forget he is the top leader of the country. All eyes are watching his examples and moves.
It was blatant and it was bribery. That’s why many were offended by PEEEEEM. He thinks that he can buy people with their own money. As for the Election Commission, what can one say. They might as well let Perkasa take over their job. Most of these guys are of questionable integrity. They are one and the same in UMNO/BN. Such shameful and unprofessional behaviour. Fair-minded Malaysians are offended and fed up.
PKR must find ways and means to counter these unethical guys in EC and the broad daylight bribes by the politicians.”
Lusiapa: Nobody is above the law. That he is the PM does not give him the immunity from prosecution. His shameless attempt to bribe the voters of Sibu renders him unfit to hold office as head of government. He must not be let off scot-free this time. What was captured on video is conclusive evidence of a serious breach of election laws. It will be interesting to see how our impotent judiciary and police react to such a blatant violation.
Kazakh: Pakatan Rakyat should make a police report and a report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on this matter, Evidence is aplenty to commit Najib to jail for his attempt to bribe Rejang Park and the Hulu Selangor voters.
Arul Inthirarajah: Clearly a police report must be made against Najib. This was a blatant violation of the Election Offences Act being a clear case of attempted bribery and corruption. So much for leadership by example. Do he, the Election Commission and the attorney-general believe that the PM is above the law?
Why pick on cops taking $50 bribes if the PM openly encourages this sort of behaviour? Should we then be surprised that there has been a steady breakdown in the rule of law in the country, when the PM flouts, and openly flouts the breaking of the law. Shameful behaviour indeed.
Christine Yong: It is blatant, I heard this repeatedly from people who are stopped by traffic police. When we plead guilty and ask them to give us a chance and help us, the police will say “you tolong saya, saya tolong you”. Now this is coming from prime mminister. Is this leadership by example?
Also, if he can openly corrupt and bribe, what about in secret? That is the reason for so many kataks? When the time is right, all the independent MPs will join BN for its two-third majority.
The flood is just an excuse, the intention is just to bribe people for RM3mil which was later raised to RM5mil. The flood is used as an excuse to execute the bribe.
Let’s view the speech in the video again (the front portion will do):
Today I come to Rejang Park, I’m told the people of Rejang Park ada problem. YB Vincent Goh dan Datuk Wong Soon Koh whispered to me, “Can you help or not with the drainage problem here?” Betul tidak? Ada floodkah di sini sikit? Ada banjir tak? Tak ada? Ada? Ada banjir di Rejang Park? I’m told you need about RM3 mil. I want to make a deal with you. Boleh tidak? BOLEH….
Notice that the crowd did not respond when he asked “Betul tidak? Ada floodkah di sini sikit? Ada banjir tak? Tak ada? Ada? Ada banjir di Rejang Park?”….they only respond BOLEH when he wants to make a deal with them.
Let me give you a little background. Sibu is among the lowest swampy land in Malaysia. Therefore, flooding is a major problem in Sibu. However, flooding does not occur everywhere in Sibu. There are higher areas in Sibu where flood do not occur. It may occur once in 10 years when the flood is really huge.
Rejang Park lies in one of those higher grounds in Sibu where flood do not occur as frequently as other areas. The only reason he is there to offer the money to them is because it is the most concentrated Chinese area. Therefore, the strategy is to invest in an area where you have the highest concentration in the hope that you get good returns. It does not matter whether there is actually flood in Rejang Park.
Go ask any Sibu people, they will tell you Rejang Park does not lie in the red zone when flood occurs in Sibu. There are far more areas in Sibu which have more serious flood problems.
Therefore, this deal is pretty much a strategy to get the victory and the flood is just an excuse. It will sound more genuine and sincere if it is really spoken in the red area of flooding in Sibu.
I hear they are preparing a giant Mock cheque to be delivered today. Its only a “mock” cheque mind you. He didn’t say it will be a real cheque. He’s Foocked if he does, he’s also foocked if he doesn’t. Rosemary doesn’t know what to do either.
The people of Sibu deserves the change. After Robert Lau (the deceased one) held the seat for 5 (FIVE) terms, what did he do to solve this flooding problem? Did he do anything? Did SUPP do anything? Did BN do anything? So why vote BN then?
PM told the Rejang Park folks that it’ll be the same deal as HS. In such a case, the cheque should be ready by Wednesday and personally deliver to Rejang Park/Sibu.
Just be sure that the mitigation contract, if any, does not land onto one shoddy contractor and never get the job done.
The fact Najib is having to think about this shows his intellectual mediocrity. Its a no brainer actually. He has no choice in the matter. He brought it on himself. He did not get it he set a new standard of dishing out cash that cannot be reversed.
The fact he think he can reverse his position show how he don’t understand the new politics and new media. The more he plays this old game, the more he drives the middle ground away from him and UMNO/BN and the future of the party. He needs lessons from Apple, Facebook, Google and Facebook.
The fact of the matter is Najib may not look it but most of his mind and body is in the past. He knows know of the present and future but he don’t understand it and he don’t know how to deal with it.
Seriously, someone please do him and everyone a favour and give him and education he sorely needs and stop wasting everyone time and lives.
Its only a “social contract”, so it might not be binding.
My lawyer burok friend says its only an “invitation to treat” (whatever that is), so no contract. He does not have to honour anything, as if he has any in the first place.
“Honour” is not in his vocabulary and he does not want to buy a dictionary. To them, honour is a very eeeeeelastic word.
Can somebody quickly make a “I help you, you help me” ringtone? Its worth maybe RM 5 million. DAP, how about it? Its a good way to raise funds for the war chest.
The nep was designed to have a limited life span and it was meant to accelarate the malay’s progress so that they could catch up with the chinese. Of course, dr mamak bungled things up for them. Malays did catch up in absolute term (only a small number of them – the umnoputras) – that is if the umno gobermen is honest enough to tell us the real economic figures. But if they do it would be a political disaster for them. So they wont. That I am sure.
Meanwhile, the rest of the malays are languishing. People like ibrahim ali and ahmad ismail will emerge from time to time; and they will come round once in a while in their cayenne turbo or mb 500 or beemer 7 series to give the languishing lot large doses of hope but little in real benefits. And for decades the poor malay folks found it sufficient to live on hopes alone. And so for decades umno was able to harness these people for support.
But not for long. Not with the younger malays. They are better educated and at any rate they are better informed. More importantly they are able to exercise a much more objective assessment of umno’s performance without the sentimental or emotional tie back to the good old early-umno years. So time is not on umno’s side. Besides, umno is too large and too slow moving to adapt to changes. Umno is like an ancient long neck dinosaur.
But what about the original objective of the nep? Then they were suppose to catch up with the economically better off chinese. And now? Now they found that they have to catch up with the much more economically better off chinese who have at the same time acquired an international outlook on things, issues, rights and opportunities. And not too long from now the chinese teens of today will join the main stream of our economy. To them Lee Hom of US and Gary Chow of Sabah are a part and parcel of that world scene in which they see themselves. If umno could not handle the chinese of today then the chinese of tomorrow will certainly floor them.
Am I telling umno too much? Maybe. But no worries. Umno is a dinosaur. Remember?
What I mean is that if Najib don’t give the RM5mil – he broke the law. By giving the RM5mil, he actually did not. That is what matter to the middle ground regardless of race but clearly the Chinese can appreciate it more. Listen to CSL, he does not know how to tell it straight to Najib but he gets it. Najib don’t understand it. Someone please educate the idiots..
“why should I ? I said loud and clear, u mau 5 juta, wo mau Robert. Now I dont have Robert, deal void lah”
Wonder what’s is percentage of DAP votes in Rejang Park?
Its pretty clear BN’s time-tested campaign strategy – “Vote for my candidate” and direct development funds will come your way” is losing efficacy which makes the PM admits that such a strategy is not “creative”.
“Can we have deal or not? Can we have an understanding or not? You help me, I help you” (in terms of development funds) is morally wrong/irresponsible but at the same time arguably not (in Malaysian electoral experience) a corrupt act.
Its morally wrong/irresponsible because development’s funds are a government’s responsibility and rakyat’s entitlement based on need. They are people’s money, drawn from tax payers monies. They are not personal moneys. If Sibu floods then the government’s responsibility to provide the funds to rectify the people’s plight. No such thing as such offer of funds being made conditional upon one’s candidate being voted in.
But no electoral offence is necessarily committed. Although under our Election Act it is an electoral offence to offer as inducement money or any consideration in exchange for vote, it is experience that this money, in electoral context, is a reference to personal funds only rather than State’s funds or any funds relating to government’s policies and willingness to approve them for dispensation. Construing otherwise leads to absurd consequences.
For examples: It is strange to accuse the PM of electoral corrupt act of offering money (development money including RM5 flood mitigation project) and soon after the election (whether the BN won in Hulu Selangor or lost in Sibu) to insist that he honours it by payment ie honours the corrupt promise of providing the funds. Does that not make the beneficiaries (rakyat) culpable takers in the act of electoral corruption if one accuses the offeror/giver as having made a corrupt financial inducement before or during the election? Both offerer/giver and taker/recipient are guilty in a corrupt act! The fact is offering development funds or government’s money to influence voter to vote though irresponsible and morally wrong is never an act of corruption, as is construed in our local context, whether offer made by ruling coalition or opposition candidate. Otherwise BN can also ask the Opposition why they too talk of money in their Sibu Manifesto to canvass for votes including the offer of 20% (instead of current 5%) of Petronas oil royalties and all Sarawakians above 60 years of age a minimum of RM100 per annum as a gift for their contribution to the Sarawak economy.
Rejang park folks should ask from Dap
Changehole! I’m damn happy to see you lost one paycheck or side income from your step father or master after you campaigned damn hard for him, too bad! Yeah, keep “change holes” with and for your mama!
Jeffrey, in your last posting, is it based on logics or election law? I hope you don’t get mixed up.
Even using logics, it does not sound right because in this case the givers and the takers are not of arm’s length. Certainly the takers cannot solicit or demand as in most bribery situations. The takers have no power to reciprocate. The takers therefore can consider whatever that is given as gifts. The funny part is the giver, on the other hand, is not giving a gift. The giver has ulterior motive – giving something in anticipation of something in return and that is bribery. See my logic and yours!
I will fully agree with Yee Siew Wah and also with Mr Karpal Singh That the Prime Minister had committed blatant bribery. We want an ethical Prime Minister. We do not want a Crime Minister.
Since BN has always been harping and stressing that “Nobody is above the law”, we will now want to see whether the PM is above the law.
It is already too clear that such acts or deal amount to corruption and if we are serious in fighting against corruption and upholding of justice, this is a perfect case for the world to judge.
I think it is simply shameless or idiotic for the PM to say this as the implication is just too far reaching. Perhaps BN is so use to corruption that this is normal for them. As I had said earlier all the KPI or KRA will not work as the man who talks about fighting corruption is showing a very bad example. All the civil servants and mata mata (policemen) will be jumping and shouting with joy now for if the PM can make such deal why not them.
We are back to square one as far as fighting corruption is concerned. When the head honcho can do it, it will resonate with joy for all civil servants. This also proves that he will never walk his talk. He will do anything to stay in power.
The subject of him honoring his words or not is no more an issue. It is definitely not important and of no significance as the Chinese has proven that they are not easily corruptible even though they are always made a scapegoat of this evil doing.
The important issue now is to cite him for corruption. We cannot support a leader who openly encouraged corruption.
BN is not a party to advance the Chinese/non Malays’ best interest……it’s a great party for the new Malays to gain political power and influence.
Did Rejang folks ask for the money? It’s one desperado who walked in to insult the intelligence of the Rejang folks. The desperado walked in for a purpose, otherwise he won’t come in at all; remember the desperado said it’s not the place for a pm to come……..
A classic case of the “emperor in new clothes”. Now the man is caught between a rock and a hard place. It was a case of overconfidence when a bunch of sycophants misled him to believe that Sibu was just a walk in the park. Give the cheque and he’ll be damned, stop the cheque, he’ll be damned, too. What lah, this is a lose-lose situation!
///Certainly the takers cannot solicit or demand as in most bribery situations. The takers have no power to reciprocate/// – Lim Kam Put.
Bribery/corruption does not depend on solicitation or demanding of takers. For example if the police stops me for traffic offence, does not solicit or demand anything except to give me a ticket, if I (giver) offers the money that he takes without solicitation, then both would have been guilty of corruption.
The difference in Najib’s case when he offers (say) RM5million flood mitigation project funds or educational funds to schools etc what he is offering is not his own personal money but the State’s money and (1) his giving (in the relationship of giver-taker) is part of the lawful duty/responsibility of government to allocate development funds (though in this case he has done it opportunistically and selectively at the time when he could extract benefit for his party) and (2) in the case of takers, the lawful entitlement of the group of people whether those affected by flood or the schools, as takers to receive. As such neither the PM as offeror per (1) nor rakyat when they press him to pay up as promised per (2) can be said to involve in corruption. What I am saying is that one cannot say (1) is corrupt without implicating the absurdity that (2) is also corrupt. The right position is neither (1) promise of development funds nor (2) pressing these promises to be fulfilled is corrupt.
You’d notice that (1) and (2) do not come in in the case of traffic offence case because traffic offender/public is not under duty to give and neither is the police stopping him entitled to receive what constitutes the first giver’s private monies. Solicitation whether it exists or not is irrelevant to establish existence of bribery.
It is also the official duty of the Police to issue the ticket and not waive it because of his taking.
Whereas in the election case the taker ie rakyat is not duty bound to vote fater taking….And the giver Najib its his duty to allocate development funds which can also take the negative way of promising to cut taxes – another form of reversed financial inducement – if constituency vote for BN which surely cannot be electoral corruption though it is a financial inducement per se for votes…
Whilst I agree it is not ethical or morally correct to offer development funds on selective occasions to secure votes from the constituency that is entitled to these development fuinds as of right based on need and the principles of good governance I do not agree with Mr Karpal Singh that Najib has committed in law any techical offence of corruption within meaning of our Electoral Act for reasons staed above.
Had the DAP offered RM 5 million to Rejang Park residents to solve their drainage problems, the courts would immediately nullify the election results and give the seat to SUPP’s Robert Lau.
When the power is in one’s hands, the abuse of it happens. I hope and pray that when one day PR rules the nation, it will not make the same mistake of BN on the abuse of power. We the people should be careful about it, even we support DAP today. Look at the political situation in Taiwan. Ah Pian happened to be as corrupted as the previous government.
The country’s corruption perception index will tell whether Najib – the Prime Minister of Malaysia – has committed bribery. So, be patient to wait for the next corruption perception index report.
To me using state funds to bribe voters during an election campaign is worse than an ordinary citizen bribing a traffic cop with his own money. I am sure we have laws to check such abuse.
Jeffrey you are at liberty to express your opinion but we I hope you will agree with me that we must not side step this blatant abuse of power which fringes on Corrupt practice. The only right thing to do is for the rakyat and the whole world to judge how our court will fare when he walks into the Palace of Justice or rather Palace of Injustice to face the charge.
I hope all right minded citizen will agree to see how justice is being dispensed rather than talking and doing nothing which ultimately such acts will be fearlessly imitated by the government servants , esp the mata mata (although they are already pratising it for decades but not so openly).
Just because he is the PM and he can gets away with it, there is not much left to our imagination on how his fellow buddy, and all government institutions will ever fear of getting caught in such evil acts.
It is no use in debating over it. Let the court decides and at the same time let the people see how the judiciary dispenses the decision.
David has killed Goliath and we can also kill two birds with one stone.
Taib Mahmood can sell his Ferraris and some few luxury items to help for the poor.
//I hope you will agree with me that we must not side step this blatant abuse of power which fringes on Corrupt practice// – pwcheng # 30.
Its definitely ethically wrong to promise development funds otherwise due as a ‘carrot’ and implicit threat of their denial as ‘stick’ to induce votes for one’s party. On that score I can agree that such a strategy is, in context, an abuse of power.
However to say that it constitutes electoral corruption in the technical sense of being a bribery offence proscribed by the Elections Act (as I think Karpal Singh meant it, more for political effect), I don’t think so even if I agree this ‘development funds for votes’ strategy is wrong, unfair and not in line with democratic best practices.
He can keep the RM 5 million, we are not beggars but if he wants to swallow what he has promised, so be it. We will just put it ‘on records’ that SUPP/BN has cheated the Sibu people and didn’t fulfill their promises. Anyway, let’s get their local representative – SUPP or the CM, to be answerable to the people.
It’s the social obligation of SUPP & the CM, to fulfill the promises said. It’s not proper for the people, to beg or apple polish whether the PM will upkeep to his personal promises to the people. Anyway, it’s just the power of the pen and the money are not coming from SUPP/PBB/UMNO/BN but the rakyat in form of taxation.
Let their UMNO cronies, follow-up as the contracts will be awarded to them.
Should Flooding Fund be decided just by NJ?
If not, then, when has it been approved and how much?
And, why should it only come out in an Election as a Deal?
THE MP SHOULD GIVE MORE INFO ON SUCH KIND OF APPROVALS TO GET SOME UNDERSTANDING ON HOW MUCH HAD BEEN UNDER THE CARPET OR SPECIAL SAFE OF THE PM?
Or, the Ministers (including the Financial Minister) have not done their job!!
PK or DAP should educate the People on what should be properly done and not politically done!!
The solution for flooding is not only a good drainage system but also a good water buffering system such as lake or Reservoir. They are water conservation for human, agriculture and environment.
A matter of land as well!!
Shame for Government to turn Water Retention Ponds (a public reserved area) into the Hands of the Developers into Private Pocket – such as many found in Selangor. Including the one for Wangsa Baiduri via PKNS!!
Uncle kit, you mistake the title lah, what can RM5 do?? surely many bloggers can afford to donate triple RM5 easily.
As the head of the government of the day, he is supposed to be owing the people of Malaysia some sorts of ‘fiduciary duty’. Therefore, he should have acted for the best interest of the people of Malaysia instead of ‘for the best of his personal/political interest’.
The mandate given by the Malaysian to his party to govern and manage the resources of the country should not be abused , otherwise he would be guity of “breaching the fiduciary duty” to the people who has entrusted him with the power and resources.
In the just concluded Sibu by-election it seems that Mr Najib is trying to “export” the negative culture -“money politics” from UMNO to Sarawak. However, he failed, as the people in Sibu has dignity not to be influenced by cash/incentives inducement in exercising their rights as voters.
The recording of the speech by Najib at Rejang Part -where he ‘made a deal’ with the people of Rejang Park can be accessed from youtube at the url below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwNLT428PqU
If you read MP YB Mr Wong Ho Leng’s website, you can clearly see that there are worse off flood hit areas. There are photos posted. And these flood hit areas have been around for as long as when the late Robert Lau Senior was around. That long. As time passes, more Sibuians are getting more and more educated and more and more clever. One day the Serahawakians will not sit quiet anymore. It’s just a matter of time. Should politics not be innovated as well ?