The race to become PM is costing billions
The price tag to become Malaysia’s eight Prime Minister, or stay as Malaysia’s seventh Prime Minister, is huge. And the towkays and tycoons are digging into their pockets to come out with ‘political funds’. And who is going to pay in the end? Hint: go look in the mirror for the answer.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Signing of SD in support of Dr M just rumours, says PKR sec-gen
(Bernama) – Claims that a group of MPs had signed a statutory declaration (SD) to support Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister until the current term ends are just hearsay, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.
He said he had read the report published by Sarawak Report but he had no knowledge of the matter.
“There is no confirmation (on the SD). No one came forward (to confirm),” said Saifuddin, who is also domestic trade and consumer affairs minister.
He said this when met by reporters after a dialogue session on the impact of Covid-2019, held between the ministry and industry players here today.
On 12th February 2020, Sarawak Report quoted sources claiming that MPs from Umno, PAS, PPBM and PKR MPs, in favour of deputy PKR president Mohamed Azmin Ali, were urged to come to Kuala Lumpur to sign the SD within 48 hours.
Asked if he was also invited to sign the SD, Saifuddin said: “As far as I know, there was no invitation. These are just rumours.”
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Today, The Star carried the story by Sarawak Report and ‘confirmed’ that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has 138 Members of Parliament with him. He needs at least 112 MPs to stay in office. And it seems those 138 MPs have signed SDs (Statutory Declarations) to that effect.
However, PKR’s secretary-general, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, has denied this story. He also denied the existence of the SDs. Well, what Saifuddin actually said was, “There is no confirmation. No one came forward.”
This means, since no one said they exist then it means they do not exist. Simple Malay logic: the absence of presence means absence.
Sarawak Report now suffers from a serious credibility deficit problem
Sarawak Report said MPs from Umno, PAS, PPBM, and PKR MPs in favour of deputy PKR president Mohamed Azmin Ali, were urged to come to Kuala Lumpur to sign the SD within 48 hours.
Saifuddin rebutted that story and said, “As far as I know, there was no invitation. These are just rumours.”
The problem here is both Sarawak Report and Saifuddin are known to have lied many times in the past. So, it is very hard to decide which of the two liars we should believe.
Sarawak Report was sued regarding the fake news of the RM90 million bribe that Umno was alleged to have paid PAS while they are still in court regarding the story that Her Highness the Sultanah Nur Zahirah of Terengganu was involved with 1MDB.
Saifuddin had to apologise to Khalid Ibrahim for spreading fake news
Saifuddin also has been sued before and had to apologise for the fake news he spread in an out of court settlement with previous Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim. Hence both Sarawak Report and Saifuddin have a serious credibility deficit issue. But then one of them must be telling the truth.
From the feedback I have got, the SDs actually do exist. But they are not 138 MPs in favour of Mahathir as Sarawak Report or The Star reported.
According to the Military Intelligence, Mahathir has around 100 MPs with him from Umno, PPBM, PAS, PKR, DAP and Amanah (yes, 5 from DAP and 3 from Amanah as well). It seems the majority of the Sabah MPs are with Mahathir while Sarawak is still very fluid.
The Mahathir-Anwar race for PM is the most expensive incident of ‘money politics’ in Malaysian history and is going to cost more than the RM2.5 billion which Najib Razak spent for GE13
Other sources say Mahathir has less than 90 while Anwar has about 80 with about 55 or so still ‘floating’.
Actually, it does not matter who has the majority: whether Mahathir or Anwar. What matters is that there is a race by both sides to garner as much support as possible and it may be that both sides are about neck-to-neck in this race.
In this type of situation, the two contenders need ‘friends’. And ‘friends’ cost a lot of money. Each SD or statutory declaration would cost at least RM25 million. Then there are the promises of posts and positions, even possibly cabinet posts. So ‘money politics’ (a polite word for corruption) is absolutely necessary.
This happened in 1987 when Umno went through a power struggle, and again in 1993. Hundreds of millions were spent. This time it is Pakatan Harapan’s turn and it is going to cost billions.
Yes, read my lips…BILLIONS.
Towkays and tycoons are spending billions to finance both contenders in the race but will recover their investment ten times over
The price tag to become Malaysia’s eight Prime Minister, or stay as Malaysia’s seventh Prime Minister, is huge. And the towkays and tycoons are digging into their pockets to come out with ‘political funds’.
Najib Tun Razak needed RM2.5 billion to finance GE13 (remember the Arab money?). When Mahathir blocked all funding for Najib in GE14, Barisan Nasional fell. Without the RM2.5 billion they needed for GE14 there was no way Umno and Barisan Nasional could stay in power.
What, you thought Umno and Barisan Nasional lost GE14 because of the ‘Malaysian Spring’? If that is what you think then you are dumber than you look. It was all because of money lah! No RM2.5 billion, no election win.
So, what did you Pakatan Harapan voters-supporters vote for? For a clean, corrupt-free, transparent, accountable government? Yeah, right, and the Taliban want to take over the world so that beauty pageants, gay pride parades, and beer festivals can be held.
Pakatan Harapan people are a real bunch of dungus. And now Malaysia is seeing the worse ever incident of political corruption a.k.a. money politics in history. And the man with the largest ‘war chest’ is going to be the next Prime Minister, or stay as Prime Minister.
Inilah yang dikata bodoh sombong penyokong Pakatan Harapan: sudahlah bodoh, tak boleh diajar. And these are the same people who kutuk Najib and Umno. Padan muka engkau orang semua.
Okay, so the towkays and tycoons are spending billions. Do you think they are doing all this for charity or patriotism? Do you think whoever they finance and eventually wins will not have to pay back whatever they received from these towkays and tycoons?
And rest assured that since no one knows which of the two candidates is going to win, the towkays and tycoons will finance both contenders or place their bets on both horses so that whoever wins they would still get back their investment ten times over. And who is going to pay in the end? Hint: go look in the mirror for the answer.
