Be careful with your ‘large donation’

Honeymah Dylyani, Malaysian Mirror

The allegation by Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing that he gave a RM10 million “loan” to MCA chief Ong Tee Keat raised many eyebrows. And Tee Keat has denied the huge ‘loan’ was ever made.

Yesterday, Ong Tee Keat filed a police report against Tiong. He also demanded an apology from Tiong within seven days for his public statement that he (Ong) took a RM10 million “loan” from him.

Tee Keat described the allegations made by Tiong, as "smear tactics and character assassination" against him. According to him, MCA is not in dire need of such monetary assistance from any party.

Meanwhile, Tiong has stated that he will not apologise, and according to China Press which interviewed Tiong, he has also refused to retract his statement on Ong.

Tiong, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) Backbenchers’ Club chairperson, said the RM10 million was paid in cash in three instalments.

Malaysian Mirror in an attempt to get some reactions to the unfolding drama, talked to three well-known NGO presidents on the matter.

Any donation must be recorded

Transparency International’s president Paul Low said that “there was no restriction if an individual wants to contribute to a party’s cause. In this matter, technically the contribution does not have anything to do with the PKFZ issues.

“The RM10 million issue is between Tiong and Ong. However, the PKFZ scandal must be solved,” Low said.

Bar Council president, Ragunath Kesavan (right), an ardent reader of Malaysian Mirror said: “The practice of giving gift or donation amounting to millions must be investigated, since there might be a tendency to corruption.

“Any donation must be recorded and acknowledged, especially if the amount is large like RM10 million,” he added.

Zaid Kamaruddin, the president of Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) said: “It is technically correct for Ong to receive the donation, but then why must Tiong be contributing to MCA’s coffer if he does not have any reason?”

Since Ong has denied receiving the 'donation', the onus is on Tiong to prove that he had indeed 'donated' the RM10 million.

To sum it up, all of them seems to agree that even though such things can be done legally, the timing of the event can be such that to the public, all is not well.

That Tiong came up with the scathing allegation on the transport minister a day after the startling revelations were revealed on the PKFZ scandal seemed to indicate an act of vengeance.

Some political animals carry with them this theory in their political guidebook, i.e. "If I were to go down, I will make sure you go down with me".