Is it a RM7 billion national economic stimulus package to held tide the country through the global economic crisis or is it a RM7 billion Barisan Nasional economic stimulus package to tide the Barisan Nasional through the political tsunami triggered by the March 8 general election last year?
This is the question Malaysians pose when they read of the response of the Umno leadership to the defection of former Umno Bota Perak state assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim to PKR, followed by the disbandment of eight Umno branches in Bota.
This is the Star report “Bota branches follow Nasarudinn to PKR”:
Acting Perak Umno liaison committee deputy chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the development should not be a setback for Umno. He said Parit Umno division deputy chief Yusof Nordin would now coordinate the delivery of services to Bota residents. “It is only temporary. I hope the (leaders of the) eight branches are prepared to pay the price of their actions,” Ahmad Zahid told reporters at a Mesra Rakyat programme near here yesterday. Ahmad Zahid, who is Perak Federal Action Council chairman, assured state Barisan Nasional assemblymen that they would receive the RM300,000 in federal allocation for their constituencies following complaints that some had not receive part of the RM1.6bil allocation for Perak under the 9th Malaysia Plan. “I guarantee that the money will be distributed equally even if the assemblyman is not an Umno division chief,” he said. Ahmad Zahid said each state constituency under Barisan would receive RM1mil under the RM7bil stimulus package.
Neither Parliament nor the nation was ever informed that the RM7 billion economic stimulus package would be used to prop up the Barisan Nasional, with “each state constituency under Barisan would receive RM1 mil under the RM7 bil stimulus package”.
This translates to RM307 million for the 307 Barisan Nasional state assembly constituencies while the 196 State assembly seats won by the Pakatan Rakyat are denied the million-ringgit provision under the economic stimulus package.
This is another blatant example of the Barisan Nasional government treating public funds as if they are party funds completely in disregard of the principles of justice, fair play and good governance.
What about parliamentary constituencies? How much is allocated to the Barisan Nasional parliamentary constituencies from the RM7 billion economic stimulus package which is denied to the Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians?
It is such cynical abuse of power which had institutionalised money politics and political corruption in Malaysia, providing the latest body blow to public confidence in the independence, autonomy and professionalism of the month-old Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Is the MACC going to end up as another Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) – as a toothless tiger totally incapable of rooting out the culture and mindset of corruption which is steeped so deeply in Barisan Nasional governance, whether at the national or state level or at best capable of acting only at the behest of the powers-that-be against political foes whether outside Barisan Nasional or even in Umno?