Rahman: Pua, Lim hypocrites on political funding
Barisan Nasional (BN) Director of Strategic Communication, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, described Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua and DAP elder statesman Lim Kit Siang in a Facebook posting as hypocrites for demanding that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak reveal the sources of political funding for Umno. “Political donations are legal in Malaysia.”
He did not make a distinction between political donations to parties and to individuals.
Apparently, he was referring to allegations in the Wall Street Journal report on Friday 3 July that nearly USD700 million entered Najib personal banking accounts at AmBank Islamic private banking services just before the last General Election in 2013.
“It was the DAP that did not accept the idea of political funding reform initiatives. Najib was the first to agree to the initiative when it was proposed by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC).”
The Opposition feared, he claimed, that the winning coalition would prosecute those who contributed to the losing side. “Batu MP Tian Chua feared, according to the 1 December 2010 minutes of a meeting with Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M), that full disclosure would hurt their contributors and hence affect political financing.”
The Opposition, he added, has never revealed its sources of political funding. “Many people have been speculating that the Opposition parties also receive funding from foreign sources, disguised sometimes as NGO funding for the advancement of democratic ideals. Or, so it would seem.”
He recalled that he did ask DAP in Parliament, after the 12th General Election in 2008, how the party managed to build a spanking new headquarters in Penang within two years of seizing the reins of the state government. “It took Gerakan, the previous government, 12 years to build a party headquarters in Penang and even then it was just an ordinary building.”
“Bruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham shouted across the divide in Parliament that DAP had plenty of supporters.”
Another example was when Anwar Ibrahim stood in Permatang Pauh in 2008. “For the first time, the Opposition out-spent the Barisan Nasional (BN).”
“Every time we planted one flag, within two hours, we would be drowned by hundreds of Opposition flags.’
It’s clear, he continued, that the Opposition received a lot of political funding. “There’s no way that the Opposition can run their massive political machinery without huge political donations.”
The political funding reform initiatives call, among others, for Parliament to approve election funds for political parties.
