Did Umno actually win 104 seats in GE15?
What would happen if Najib Razak was asked to prove he did not steal RM50 billion of 1MDB’s money instead of the prosecution having to prove he did? Would Isham Jalil agreed that the same rule he is applying to PN be used on Najib? If this is the best brain BN can find as their information chief, God help BN.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) government’s spin is that Perikatan Nasional (PN) won 74 parliament seats in the 15th general election (GE15) because they cheated. PH-BN allege that PN spent RM4.5 billion to bribe the voters or to buy votes. And the RM4.5 billion came from kickbacks involving RM92.5 billion ‘negotiated-without-tender’ contracts and projects that the Muhyiddin Yassin government gave out during the six months Covid-19 lockdown.
Initially they said it was RM600 billion worth of projects, then RM520 billion, and now RM92.5 billion. The fact that the finance minister during Muhyiddin’s rule, Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, who is still a minister in the PH-BN government, denied this allegation does not seem to stop the PN critics from continuing with this narrative.
The narrative is: BN spent just RM1 billion during GE15 while PN spent RM4.5 billion. That is why BN won just 30 seats while PN won 74 seats.
This allegation is meant to explain why BN did not win the 148 seats, as they had predicted before GE15. How come win only 30 seats instead of 148? And the reason is: because BN spent only RM1 billion and not RM4.5 billion like PN did.
According to the law, BN is supposed to spend only RM35.8 million for the 179 parliament seats they contested. So the RM1 billion that BN spent way exceeds what the law allows. Hence, BN’s 30 members of parliament should be disqualified, and 30 by-elections should be held in all those seats that BN won.
BN is frantically trying to create the perception that PN stole those 74 seats they won from BN. If PN had not cheated, BN would have won 104 seats instead of just 30.
Okay, let us go along with this argument: that PN cheated, and if not because of that BN would have won 104 parliament seats instead of just 30. But then BN said they were going to win 148 seats. So who won the additional 44 seats?
BN said it was going to win 148 seats, but then they won just 30 seats because PN stole 74 seats through bribery and corruption. But then 30 plus 74 is just 104, not 148. So what happened to the balance 44 seats?
The balance 44 seats are part of the 82 seats that PH won. So how did PH win 82 seats, 44 of them seats that BN was supposed to win? Did PH also bribe the voters? And how much did PH spend to bribe the voters?
BN is not accusing PH of bribery, although PH won more seats than PN (82 versus 74). PN won 74 seats through bribery. PH did not win 82 seats through bribery. But the fact remains that BN won only 30 seats and not 148 seats as they said they would.
Umno’s Isham Jalil said PN must prove they DID NOT bribe the voters. Umno needs not prove that PN did bribe the voters. PN must prove they did not.
What would happen if Najib Razak was asked to prove he did not steal RM50 billion of 1MDB’s money instead of the prosecution having to prove he did? Would Isham Jalil agreed that the same rule he is applying to PN be used on Najib? If this is the best brain BN can find as their information chief, God help BN.
