Money first,cronies second,
Malay & Islam last...
He could say and do anything he likes, including insulting and belittling all the nine Malay Rulers. And he certainly could instigate social unrest with seditious statements to the point of starting bloody racial riots. Abdul Hadi Awang realizes he is untouchable because all the sultans – even the ruling government – are too pussy to take action against him as he’s the president of PAS Islamist party.
When two students went ballistic over history paper questions in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (equivalent to O-Levels) examination, using vulgar words to criticize those who had set the questions and also insulted Singapore, they were quickly arrested by the Royal Malaysia Police. But where was the police when Mr Hadi boldly insulted the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King)?
After testing the water, the religious extremist Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) believes they are unstoppable. The monarchs are too afraid that PAS would overthrow them like the Iranian Revolution whilst Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is too terrified of the backlash from Malay-Muslim voters if the leaders of the Islamist party are investigated, charged or imprisoned.
As the biggest stakeholder in the Opposition with 49 parliamentary seats, PAS now calls the shot in the 74-seat Perikatan Nasional coalition, even though the role as opposition leader has been given to partner Bersatu (Malaysian United Indigenous Party) general-secretary Hamzah Zainuddin. Even the chairman of Perikatan Nasional is Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin.
But having tasted blood, PAS top leadership cannot and will not wait till the next general election, which is another 4 to 5 years away, to try their luck again to form the government. The corrupted and power-hungry leaders of the Islamist party still could not forget the taste of lobsters, money, power and projects when they were part of the Muhyiddin and Ismail Sabri backdoor government.
After the Nov 2022 national polls, which produced a hung Parliament, Perikatan Nasional had a chance to return to power. However, Muhyiddin’s arrogance – flatly rejecting a “Unity Government” proposed by King Sultan Abdullah – saw the opportunity dashed as he had insisted to become the prime minister, and not the deputy to rival Pakatan Harapan leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Hadi Awang was equally arrogant and over-confident that Perikatan Nasional could become the government – hoodwinked by Muhyiddin’s claim that they had 115 SDs (statutory declarations) of support. It was both puzzling and hilarious that they had no idea that with the implementation of anti-hopping law, those SDs was not worth the paper it’s written on.
Former PM Muhyiddin was furiously mad after the King rejected his 115 SDs, but it was too late to cry over spilt milk. Barisan Nasional, despite suffering its worst defeat, has suddenly become the kingmaker. Without its 30 MPs, neither Pakatan Harapan (82 MPs) nor Perikatan Nasional could form a government. It was game over after Barisan chose Pakatan over Perikatan.
Realizing its mistake, PAS had initially expressed its interest to – shamelessly – join the Anwar-led unity government, only to flip-flop days later after Bersatu disagreed. Muhyiddin knew it would be meaningless, at least to Bersatu, to join because the deputy prime minister does not come with real power to stop the anti-corruption agency from investigating his corruption scandals.
In the same breath, it also explains why Tengku Zafrul, former finance minister appointed by Muhyiddin, had lobbied using his royalty connection to force PM Anwar to appoint him again to the same powerful portfolio through backdoor – Senatorship. Muhyiddin wanted Zafrul in the new government to prevent Anwar from accessing confidential files and contracts that could implicate him.
But the new premier was smarter and Zafrul has to be contended as Minister of International Trade and Industry. As expected, despite Muhyiddin’s illegitimate and short 17-month rule, a whopping RM600 billion – as initially admitted by the backdoor PM himself – had been spent without check and balance, thanks to abusing a State of Emergency to cling to power.
Ultimately, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was satisfied to focus its scope of investigations on the RM92.5 billion directly funded by the government. The strategy of casting the net wide has been fruitful. Some unexpected crooks like Wan Saiful Wan Jan was caught having received RM6.96 million kickbacks in exchange for pre-approval projects.
Wan Saiful, the information chief of Bersatu, has been slapped with two corruption charges of soliciting bribes from Nepturis Sdn Bhd in exchange for a lucrative road project – Central Spine Road worth a staggering RM232 million. If even a small fry like he is caught, chances are big sharks like Muhyiddin and Hadi too are in the beautiful fishing net.
A bigger fish is 42-year-old Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad, who was detained over his role as “middleman” in brokering government projects related to Covid-19 stimulus packages worth RM92.5 billion (US$21 billion) in exchange for bribes on January 5. He has since been charged multiple times (with more to come) for soliciting bribes to the tune of millions of Ringgit.
A former chief executive of Maju Assets Sdn Bhd, Adam is also Segambut divisional leader of Muhyiddin’s political party – Bersatu. The best part is Adam is the cousin of Muhyiddin’s son-in-law, Muhamad Adlan Berhan, who in turn was involved in several scandals. As Muhyiddin’s money collector, it will not be hard to link the disgraced former prime minister to the massive RM92.5 billion scandal.
However, the corruption charges on Wan Saiful and Adam Radlan have not only burst the bubble that portrayed Perikatan Nasional as a clean and incorruptible government, which millions of gullible Malay voters were led to believe. The most damaging part is the exposure of who really got the RM5.7 billion Jana Wibawa projects – supposedly to help struggling Bumiputera contractors during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jana Wibawa or Economic Recovery of Authorized Bumiputera Contractors, set up in Nov 2020 by PM Muhyiddin, did not really benefit the so-called “son of the soil”. In fact, according to the Malaysian Malay Contractors Association (PKMM), none of its members were involved or has benefited from the scheme because the projects were given directly to Bersatu cronies.
Wan Saiful and Adam Radlan apparently solicited RM6.96 million and RM2 million bribes respectively from Lian Tan Chuan to help Nepturis to secure the RM232 million Central Spine Road project and to obtain the Klang Utara District Police Headquarters project worth RM141 million from the government. This means “Malay First” Muhyiddin has scammed millions of ignorant Malays.
Worse, with Bersatu accounts being frozen by the anti-graft agency MACC, the gravy train has essentially stopped. Having indulged luxuriously and plundered hungrily during the 33-month backdoor governments of Muhyiddin and Ismail, leaving the government with RM1.5 trillion national debt, Perikatan Nasional finds it very hard to survive as the opposition.
When PM Anwar unveiled the Budget 2023, Bersatu and PAS became hysterical and began screaming like hell. They whined, moaned and bitched that the unity government was unfair for not giving equal allocations to opposition Members of Parliament. Heck, they even argued that the allocations were people’s money and should be distributed fair and square.
The opposition conveniently forgot that after they had stolen the government from the Pakatan Harapan government in March 2020 and formed a backdoor regime, they too did not give equal allocations. Even the equal allocations given by Sabri administration were due to an MOU (memorandum of understanding) signed with Pakatan to guarantee support for his fragile government.
Even if Anwar administration wanted to give equal allocations, it can’t because the country runs out of money thanks to corruption and plundering by Bersatu and PAS. The last time ex-finance minister Lim Guan Eng allocated RM400 million to PAS-ruled Kelantan, not only the money disappeared, PAS extremists returned the kindness by sowing hatred against the Chinese instead.
Therefore, it’s only wise not to give huge allocations directly to PAS state governments, who desperately needed money to “buy votes” in the upcoming state elections in Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan. In reality, Kelantan and Terengganu did not qualify for a 5% oil royalty because the crude oil extractions are beyond the 3-nautical mile limit.
Under the previous leadership of spiritual leader Nik Aziz, opposition Parti Islam Se-Malaysia did not need to beg the federal government for money. It could raise funds using “Milo tin” and had survived even without equal allocations. But under the corrupted Hadi leadership, the Islamist party has become so commercialized that it can barely breathe without truckloads of money.
The funny thing is that at the same time PAS and Bersatu cry like a baby asking for equal allocations, PAS Ulama Chief Nik Muhammad Zawawi announced that the Islamist party has “lots of money”, so much so it has offered to provide funds for Bersatu in the coming polls. Perhaps it should explain why the people of Kelantan and Terengganu were left to fend for themselves during the recent floods.
The frustration saw Hadi stirring up racial and religion sentiments among the Malays again, falsely claiming that non-Muslims will rule if Malays lack of political awareness – despite the fact that the country’s prime minister has always been a Malay-Muslim since independence in 1957. The racist bigot also lied that only 68% Malay had voted in the 15th General Election, when in fact 79% had done so.
The PAS president has also warned – and threatened – the Anwar administration of an inevitable collapse of the current unity government. Exactly how does the opposition plan to form another backdoor government? In order to return to power, Perikatan Nasional is willing to offer the top prize – 11th Prime Minister – to GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) chairman Abang Johari Openg.
Hishammuddin Hussein, the UMNO traitor who previously influenced and bribed 9 Barisan Nasional MPs to defect to Muhyiddin’s camp after the 15th General Election, was offered the same incentive. But he was quickly “checkmate” by UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Now that Hishammuddin has been suspended for 6 years, the offer goes to Abang Johari.
Whether GPS will switch sides and betray Anwar-led unity government depends on the results of upcoming United Malays National Organization (UMNO) election. If Zahid’s boys were to lose, there will be pressure for his leadership to withdraw support for Anwar Ibrahim. Hadi also plans to work with Mahathir Mohamad to instigate the Malays that they have lost political and economic control. - FT
MACC nabs Bersatu treasurer...
The MACC has arrested Bersatu treasurer Mohamed Salleh Bajuri in relation to the use of the party funds. A source close to Bersatu’s leadership confirmed Salleh’s reported arrest and two days remand. “Yes, it’s true that he (Salleh) is being detained,” the source told Malaysiakini.
The Star earlier quoted a MACC source who said Salleh (above) was arrested on Tuesday and his two-day remand is expected to end tomorrow. The daily also quoted the source as claiming that the MACC is trying to apply for an extension to Salleh's remand.
When contacted, a MACC source, who also confirmed Salleh's arrest, did not respond to further queries on the possible extension. Salleh's arrest and remand came amid corruption charges against Tasek Gelugor MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan, who stepped down as Bersatu information chief pending an acquittal.
Wan Saiful previously said he regretted the government's actions, which he deemed to be selective prosecution aimed at diverting attention from the failure of the unity government. Last month, the MACC also recorded a statement from Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin pertaining to a probe into Bersatu’s bank accounts, which have been frozen. - mk
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