Najib: Winning is the most important thing
(Malaysian Mirror) – PARIS – Despite a barrage of criiticism that his Umno party has taken a huge step backwards in the fight against corruption, Prime Minister Najib Razak has defended his choice of candidate, reiterating that winning the Bagan Pinang by-election was top priority.
“There’s no need to talk about winning big or small, as long as we win. Winning is the important thing,” Najib was quoted as telling Bernama.
The Umno-led Barisan Nasion is the odds-on favourite to beat the Pakatan Rakyat on polling day this Sunday Oct 11, thanks to the popularity of its candidate Isa Abdul Samad.
But the former Negeri Sembilan mentri besar has a glaring corruption and vote-buying record – sins that the party and Najib as Umno president have vowed to stamp out.
Public outcry
Yet Isa was given a chance to carry the party’s flag in the contest against PAS’s Zulkefly Omar. Najib’s decision set off a huge debate about the wisdom of such a move, with civil society and even party elders such as Mahathir Mohamad leading the attack.
“Corruption is corruption, Mr Prime Minister. There are no two ways about it. You cannot minimise the crime by camouflaging the offence under some other label. Neither can you make it disappear by simply declaring “that the offence committed by Isa was not an offence under the law,” said P Ramakrishnan, president of Aliran.
“It is not true that Isa Abdul Samad only breached party ethics. That would be a lie. He was found guilty of indulging in money politics to secure his victory in the Umno party elections for the post of vice-president. He won the post with the highest number of votes. In fact, he wasn’t satisfied with the number of votes he garnered. He then quipped that he expected to win his position with an even higher majority!
“Umno did Isa a favour by not referring Isa’s money politics to the MACC. If that was done then, today Umno will not have this shameful episode of offering a corrupt politician as its candidate at the Bagan Pinang by-election.”
