Why I say the Barisan Nasional government is ‘illegitimate’ (UPDATED with Chinese Translation)
According to the Election Offences Act, all the Barisan Nasional candidates would have to be disqualified (all candidates are supposed to submit their accounts to the Elections Commission after the elections to declare how much money they spent). And each candidate is not allowed to spend more than RM200,000 for the parliament seats and RM100,000 for state seats.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Ad firm settles RM546,000,000 suit against BN
An advertising company has settled its RM546 million suit against the Barisan Nasional (BN) out of court.
High Court judge Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman was informed of the settlement by Katherine Kohlhoff Durai, counsel for the company, Pentas Permata Sdn Bhd (PPSB), in his chambers today.
Abu Bakar Isa Ramat, counsel for the BN, told reporters that Alizatul allowed the matter to be settled without liberty to re-file.
Another BN counsel, Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun, said the quantum of settlement was still being discussed but it would not exceed 0.01 per cent in ex-gratia payment.
He said he was relieved that such a large claim was settled without any judgment on liability.
Pentas Permata filed the suit against the BN on Dec 7, 2007, for terminating a contract with it, dated Jan 5, 2006, for the supply and installation of advertising boards in open areas to promote the BN in the general election.
The company, which was appointed as an agent to install the boards, named the BN, represented by its executive secretary, Datuk Yaakob Mohammad, as defendant. — Bernama
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On 7 December 2007, Pentas Permata filed a civil suit against Barisan Nasional for the termination of its contract signed on 5 January 2006. The company was supposed to supply and install outdoor advertising billboards for the 12th general election in March 2008 and it claims to have incurred losses totalling RM546,552,800 because of this termination (read more here).
Today, the court was told that the case has been settled out of court but the settlement figure was not mentioned. The actual contract amount was also not mentioned, nor was the manner in which the RM546,552,800 ‘loss’ was computed clarified. Whether this RM546,552,800 ‘loss’ is confined to only what the company incurred by way of expenses or does it include potential earnings or loss of earnings is not too clear.
In the 2008 general election, 222 parliament seats and 505 state seats were up for grabs. This comes to a total of 727 seats. (Sarawak did not have state elections, only parliamentary elections).
The RM546,552,800 being claimed by Pentas Permata is supposed to be just for the advertising billboards. So this comes to RM751,792 per seat, parliament and states seats combined, far exceeding what is allowed by the election rules.
Barisan Nasional spent a total of RM1.5 billion in the elections, as they always do. And we have not yet included the use, or abuse, of government machinery and facilities, TV and radio stations, cars and helicopters, and whatnot. If we put a price to all this — which the taxpayers’ are paying for and therefore is a cost — then Barisan Nasional’s total expenditure would come to more than RM1.5 billion or more than RM2 million per candidate.
According to the Election Offences Act, all the Barisan Nasional candidates would have to be disqualified (all candidates are supposed to submit their accounts to the Elections Commission after the elections to declare how much money they spent). And each candidate is not allowed to spend more than RM200,000 for the parliament seats and RM100,000 for state seats.
This means the 222 parliament candidates and 505 state candidates can only spend RM44.4 million and RM50.5 million respectively, a total of RM94.9 million.
If Malaysia had a better and more independent judiciary and Elections Commission (SPR) then Barisan Nasional would be in deep shit. But sadly, we can never hope for such a thing, at least not in the immediate future.
Now do you know why we are fighting for a better and more independent judiciary and Elections Commission and for the restoration of the independence of the four branches of government (Executive, Legislative, Judiciary and Monarchy) where the courts are not under the Executive but can actually take action against the Executive?
In the meantime, while we await the reformation of the system, we shall just have to console ourselves with the fact that the Barisan Nasional government is a ‘kerajaan haram’, for whatever good that will do us.
Translated into Chinese at: http://ccliew.blogspot.com/2010/05/blog-post_3895.html
