A way to end money politics

(NST) – UMNO should drop the quota system, introduce direct elections and return to its past to better serve its members.

This is the view of many members, especially with money politics continuing to plague the party.

Academicians feel this process should be quickened. They say the party's future may hinge on whether it is willing to change its old ways, which include the quota system introduced in the 1980s.

Some academics feel the quota system and central voting are responsible for the party's decline from being a respected champion of the Malay cause to a besieged party that is less able to respond to the will of the people.

Under the quota system, those who aspire to contest national-level posts need to obtain enough nominations from the divisions to qualify.

Delegates to the general assembly and not the grassroots will then vote during the party polls.

Professor James Chin of Monash University in Kuala Lumpur said under this system, all that was needed to control a division was to control or "buy" the G7.

G7 refers to the seven delegates elected by the branch to attend the party general assembly.

These seven and six division office-bearers, known as G6, vote for their leaders at the party elections.

Chin said the solution to this problem was to do away with the quota system and introduce direct elections.

With three million members, direct elections would make buying votes so expensive that they would be no longer feasible.

But the biggest excuse often given for not having direct elections is the sheer size of the party's membership. Detractors said this would always be a stumbling block.

But Chin said there was a practical way to do it.

"All you have to do is to conduct the elections at individual branch levels, then get each branch to fax or email the results to the headquarters."

He said Australia's Democrats party conducted its elections through mass voting.

While Australia's population is not significantly larger than Malaysia, geographically, Australia is seven to eight times bigger than Malaysia.

Political analyst Professor Agus Yusoff said the seven delegates selected from each Umno branch to represent the members at the divisional level could be enticed by money.

"They may not bring the aspirations of the grassroots to the division level. Instead, they may be asking: what will we get out of it?"

Agus said the quota system, which required candidates for the post of president to have nominations from at least 60 divisions, should be scrapped.

"If the quota system is dropped, Umno will eventually see the death of money politics."

Many Umno leaders have lobbied for direct elections and the abolition of the quota system, but what remains to be seen is whether there will be a genuine effort to do so.

Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian said direct elections would show the party to be open and transparent.

However, he said changing the system could be difficult.

Veteran Umno politician Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had recently suggested that members directly elect the party president, deputy president, vice-presidents and supreme council members.

That, he said, would end the delegate system.

He said state party chiefs should be elected by the members at state level and not be appointed by the president.

At the same time, he felt that the nomination quotas should be abolished.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said direct elections would not necessarily reduce money politics.

In fact, he said direct elections would create more power brokers and more money being used.

"Instead of a few people getting the money, it would be distributed to a wider group of people.

"If money politics now is at the national level, by introducing direct election, we are taking the money politics problem to the branch level."

He said people were creative.

"They will find ways to get money. If they are used to the system, it is difficult to get it out of the system. We need a total revamp of the system. We have to think of radical changes."

Former MIC vice-president Datuk M. Kumaran said Teng-ku Razaleigh's proposal was good.

"It allows for democracy and would eradicate corruption, although money politics is not rampant in MIC."

Former Gerakan president Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said his party had a good system in place and there was no need for a change.

"All we need is a proposer and a seconder and anyone can contest the president's post. That is democratic enough and it works for us."

However, he said he was in no position to comment on Tengku Razaleigh's proposal as it was an internal party affair.

"They have to sort it out themselves."

PPP Youth chief Datuk T. Murugiah, who is also deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said having direct election would reduce money politics to a certain extent.

"But the same system would not work for all parties. As for PPP, the system we have now serves us well.

"We also don't need a quota of nominations and seconders. The contender nominates himself and seconded by another member and he can contest."