Mahathir the saviour and Muhyiddin the victim

So Dr Mahathir knew that Muhyiddin was receiving money. He also knew it was a huge amount. But was Muhyiddin arrested and charged in court? No, he was not, because what he was doing was normal and not illegal.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It was 13 years ago back in 2002 when Parti Keadilan Nasional — which became Parti Keadilan Rakyat the following year — exploded with the revelation that party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had received tens of millions in donations in her personal name and in not the name of the party.

One delegate from the youth movement, Hanafiah Man, took the rostrum, turned around to face the stage, and with his finger pointing to all the party leaders on stage, he lamented about how money received by the leaders of the party were not being transmitted to those below.

The party AGM at Sungai Petani was well attended and representatives from all the local as well as foreign media were present and seated at the back of the hall. Hanafiah, of course, had the blessing of the Youth Leader — at that time still under detention without trial in Kamunting — to expose and publicly whack the party leaders for what they considered ‘embezzlement’ of party funds.

But it was not embezzlement. Keadilan was just three years old at that time but since the party was set up in 1999 the system was created where the leaders receive all donations in their personal names and not in the name of the party. The donors, for obvious reasons, are also to be kept a secret. And this was exactly how PAS and DAP also operated.

It was a system that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad set up when Umno Baru was formed in 1988. It was legal and acceptable. And all the opposition parties as well as the other members of Barisan Nasional do it as well. Officially, the party is broke. In reality, the party has plenty of money but not in the name of the party. They were all parked under trustees, proxies and nominees.

And one thing they must never reveal is the names of the donors. If they do then the donations would stop. No one would dare donate to the party any longer.

According to one director of Sports Toto in his testimony in court, every month he was tasked with the job of carrying millions of Ringgit in cash to ‘donate’ to Anwar Ibrahim when he was the Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

One Sabah Umno division leader said that Anwar spent RM200 million in Sabah alone (and much more in West Malaysia) to bring down the then Deputy Prime Minister Tun Gafar Baba. The money was carried by private jet to Sabah. Because of the huge amount of money involved, which Gafar could not match, he decided to withdraw from the contest and allow Anwar to menang tanpa tanding.

Many who do not know this — and do not know that both the parties in power as well as the opposition parties do this — consider the RM2.6 billion matter as odd and luar biasa. How can RM2.6 billion be banked into the party president’s personal bank account? And who is this donor or these donors? And why are their names confidential?

Only an idiot who does not know how politics is played and how political parties are financed in Malaysia would be shocked and would ask such questions. Those of us who have been in the game since pre-1981 when Dr Mahathir became prime minister are not shocked and will not ask silly questions. It is like getting shocked and not understanding how a girl got pregnant. Isn’t it obvious? She was impregnated, bodoh!

And because the Keadilan Youth Movement was not happy that the party leaders received tens of millions in donations in the personal names of the party leaders and none of that money turun ke bawah, many eventually left the party — the Youth Leader, many of the EXCO members, and the party Information Chief included.

So there you have it. The PKR internal crisis of 2003 was about money being donated to the party leaders and not to the party. It was about the others in the party not knowing how much money was really collected. It was because the money was not shared with the others in the party, in particular those in the Youth Movement.

But had any crime been committed? If there was you can bet your sweet ninny that the Registrar of Societies would have swooped in and deregistered PKR before you can finish saying ‘drop your panties, baby’. No crime had been committed. It is not illegal to receive donations on behalf of the party in your personal name. And it is not a crime to keep the names of those donors a secret.

And everyone does this, the opposition parties included. And that is why I do not say that Lim Guan Eng is corrupted although there are allegations he received tens of millions from businessmen and developers in Penang. The money is for DAP. It is just that it is not in the name of DAP but in the name of Lim Guan Eng. And PAS does the same, not just DAP and PKR.

So why is Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin Yassin turning this into an issue? Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin received many more times that RM2.6 billion. RM2.6 billion is a fraction of what they received. When Muhyiddin was the Johor Menteri Besar Dr Mahathir called him ‘my richest minister’.

So Dr Mahathir knew that Muhyiddin was receiving money. He also knew it was a huge amount. But was Muhyiddin arrested and charged in court? No, he was not, because what he was doing was normal and not illegal.

Dr Mahathir is playing the saviour and Muhyiddin is playing the victim. But save Malaysia from what or whom and victim of what or whom? This is all a big wayang, a game of pretence that Najib should not have received RM2.6 billion in his personal name and that it should have been in the name of the party and that the name of the donor should be revealed.

And you know what? Many of you idiots are swallowing this hook, line and sinker.