Najib is a victim of Malaysia’s political system
They say Najib and Zahid are guilty of corruption. Maybe according to the (written) law they are guilty. But according to the political tradition and culture, and the unwritten rules of Malaysian politics, they are just doing what Umno and thousands of other politicians have been “legally” doing for 50 years involving RM200 billion.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
“Beware the dangers of unregulated, private political financing”
By Dr Kassim Nor Mohamed
(Focus Malaysia) – As the 15th General Election (GE15) looms near, there is a clear public demand for more accountability and clarity in how politicians finance their election campaigns and their political parties; what is legitimate political funding and what is not remains unclear.
The simple reason why we are in murky waters is because Malaysia does not have political financing legislation.
It is for this reason that there are a number of high-profile politicians currently on trial over the discovery of millions in their personal bank accounts.
The lack of specific laws to regulate the financing of political funds could make it difficult for the authorities to determine if such contributions are for the stated purposes or corrupt reasons.
READ MORE HERE
What Dr Kassim Nor Mohamed wrote (see above) is very true. What is political donation, what is money politics, and what is bribery and corruption? The boundaries are very hazy indeed.
In the past, in the pre-Umno Baru days, donations to Umno were made in the name of Umno. Back in the 1970s, I made the cheques out in the name of the Bahagian Umno concerned. Sometimes they requested cash cheques, which, of course, I obliged.
I can’t remember how much in total I donated to Umno in over the 20 years from the 1970s to the 1990s, but it was definitely more than RM5 million, which today would probably be worth RM20 million or so. But then RM5 million against contracts worth RM300 million over those 20 years is not unusual.
The donations to Umno Johor and PPB Sarawak in the 1980s alone totalled RM1 million, which were made in cash with no paper trail or records. I gave Umno Kuala Terengganu RM250,000, also in cash for the 1988 general election, hand delivered to Bakar Daud and Zubir Embong.
But we did not see it as corruption. It was legitimate and legal political donations as our contribution to Umno for the government jobs we received. And any businessman will tell you that RM5 million “kickback” to Umno for RM300 million worth of government jobs is cheap. Lim Guan Eng took 10% for the Penang undersea tunnel, which is six times what I paid Umno.
The problem here is, kickbacks or political donations, was (or still is) Malaysian business culture and tradition. Whether it was (or is) illegal did not really matter. After all, Umno was the government, so how can it be wrong? Whether it is morally wrong (even if not illegal) is another matter altogether.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar Ibrahim, and so many political leaders from both sides of the political divide not only knew this was going on, but they were involved in it, even DAP and PAS. The only difference is DAP and PAS (in the 1970s to 1990s) did not give out any government contracts for the political donations they received. But they still received political donations, nevertheless.
And now, 50 years later, Malaysia is facing a dilemma. And this is mainly because of Najib Tun Razak’s and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s trials. Are Najib and Zahid guilty of corruption, or are they merely guilty of getting caught for doing what thousands of other politicians have done for 50 years involving an estimated RM200 billion
This is a 50-year-old game: political donations for government jobs. Today they decide they need to define the (new) rules of the game. So what are the new rules going to be?
They say Najib and Zahid are guilty of corruption. Maybe according to the (written) law they are guilty. But according to the political tradition and culture, and the unwritten rules of Malaysian politics, they are just doing what Umno and thousands of other politicians have been “legally” doing for 50 years involving RM200 billion.
