Umno leaders cannot be more wrong as Umno’s biggest problem in 13GE is not the perception but the fact of their corruption


Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor cannot be more wrong in claiming that Umno’s biggest problem in the 13th General Election is the perception that it is a corrupt party.

The real problem is the corruption in the Umno leadership, which must bear the full responsibility for Malaysia’s worst ranking in the past 17 years of Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and losing out to more and more countries not only in the region, the Asia-Pacific but even to Islamic countries in the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in the fight against corruption.

When the TI CPI was first introduced in 1995, Malaysia was ranked No. 23. I can still remember the condemnation by the then Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who accused it as part of the Western “white men” conspiracy to demonise Asian countries as the global anti-corruption NGO was headquartered in Berlin.

What is most ironic is that in the months before he stepped down as Prime Minister in October 2003, he was singing a different tune, according legitimacy by giving his bessings to the annual TI CPI when he urged the country to aim to be among the top countries among the least corrupt nations in the annual TI CPI.

When Mahathir stepped down as Prime Minister, Malaysia’s ranking in 2003 had dropped from 23rd in 1995 to 37th position!

In the five-year premiership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia’s TI CPI plunged another ten places from 37th to 47th ranking in 2008 despite Abdullah’s five-year National Integrity Plan to achieve at least 30th ranking in 2008.

But the sharpest drop in TI CPI ranking took place in the three years under the sixth Prime Minister, Najib Razak falling another 13 places to 60th ranking with the lowest TI CPI score of 4.3 in the TI CPI 2011.

With this backdrop of worsening corruption in Malaysia in the past two decades, with Malaysia under Najib even more corrupt than under the two previous Prime Ministers Mahathir and Abdullah, how can Umno leaders trivialise the grave problem of corruption of Malaysia under Umno?

Unless Umno leaders can present an iron-clad case that it is not Umno but the other Barisan Nasional parties like MCA, Gerakan, MIC, the Sabah and Sarawak BN parties which must bear the greatest responsibility for the critical corruption problem in Malaysia?

Instead of the Denial Syndrome trivialising the grave problem of corruption in Malaysia, Umno leaders should accept full responsibility by.demonstrating the political will and commitment to fight “grand corruption” involving top political and government leaders, starting with a full public inquiry into the RM40 million “Sabah political donation” scandal involving Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and Sabah timber trader Michael Chia.

[Speech by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang at the launch of Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) in Papar at Kg Tamui on Friday November 9, 2012 at 8pm]

  1. #1 by Godfather on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 12:41 pm

    Pure state of denial. NFC scandal is just a perception. RM 40 million smuggled into the country is also nothing more than perception. Nazri’s son being involved with the smuggler Michael Chia is also perception. Putting Isa Samad as head of FGV is perception. Putting Thamby Chik as head of RISDA is pure perception. Altantuya case is purely perception.

    None of these ever happened. The mainstream press can prove it.

  2. #2 by dagen wanna "ABU" on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 1:22 pm

    Perception. Only a perception.

    Ok. Ok. Ok. Let me explain.
    I hv got it all figured out.

    Corruption. Yes. Corruption and umno.
    The link. Between the two. The equal sign in the centre.
    Its only a perception.
    Yes. Only a perception.
    Its not real.

    So you see. If umno loses in GE13, the loss be seen as only a perception.
    Not real. Yes. So you see where umno is coming?

    Even if it loses in GE13 it will still stay on because the loss is only a perception and not real.

  3. #3 by cemerlang on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 1:36 pm

    Let’s give them the benefit of a doubt. If it is just a perception, then if you can hold those solid money in your hands, ask yourself; where will the money go ? Or let’s say it is your money, ask yourself, what are you doing with it ? Is the money worth what you are doing ? Malaysia needs good management of money. Malaysia needs bright accountants, bright account clerks, bright people who knows how to add, substract, multiply, divide big numbers and bright is not enough, they must have the right heart. Because if not it is the bright screwed people who will swindle your money away.

  4. #4 by dagen wanna "ABU" on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 1:37 pm

    Its about time umno send its men to berlin to investigate whether the TI body receives alien funds and backing by the jews. If that is so, then to carry umno’s world famous butt show, immediately.

  5. #5 by sotong on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 2:12 pm

    The seed of corruption had been sowed. The consequences are permanent, long term and far reaching….this is only the tip of the iceberg.

  6. #6 by Bigjoe on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 2:18 pm

    Actually Tengku Adnan gives a good clue where PR’s problem really lies in toppling UMNO/BN. Truth is everyone knows UMNO/BN is corrupt – very corrupt. Not everyone knows exactly how much and the scale but pretty much every knows IT TOO MUCH.

    The problem for PR is that there are TOO MANY WHO ARE INVESTED IN UMNO/BN’S CORRUPTION i.e., the problem is that too many are in denial – won’ t face the stark choice that UMNO/BN just not worth the price paid for their corruption…

    So it comes down to specific. NFC’s RM250m of cows hit closer to home than say Noh Omar a few million ringgit of land for prawn farming or Khir Toyo few million in mansion..AES in hundreds of millions of SAMAN, hit closer to home than say RM40m of timber money from Sabah…

    But what PR got going for them is their ability to build number RM2.4b in savings in 4 years by Khalid Ibrahim vs years hundreds of millions of losses by Khir Toyo…

    Slowly but surely, the numbers are building up. PR problem is it can’t get all the numbers it need. UMNO/BN problem is that it can’t cover every number they mess up…

  7. #7 by yhsiew on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 3:34 pm

    ///But the sharpest drop in TI CPI ranking took place in the three years under the sixth Prime Minister, Najib Razak falling another 13 places to 60th ranking….///

    As the Chinese saying goes: The three feet of ice is not due to a day’s cold weather. #4 Sotong was right, the seed of corruption had been sowed long time ago giving way to long term damages.

  8. #8 by sheriff singh on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 9:44 pm

    If they all practice corruption, then they should all be labelled ‘apostates’.

  9. #9 by sheriff singh on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 9:45 pm

    Oooops, I forgot, they are all ‘devils’ according to Mahathir.

  10. #10 by Jeffrey on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 9:51 pm

    The perception here matches the fact. So its both.

  11. #11 by Sam2010 on Saturday, 10 November 2012 - 10:13 pm

    They cannot differentiate perception from the facts.

  12. #12 by Noble House on Sunday, 11 November 2012 - 1:34 am

    Umno believes living in a world of fantasy and make-believe, hiding their opinions behind a pretentious veil of imagined objectivity instead of respecting the intelligence of the public. They presume that people do not possess the intellectual capacity to make their own conclusions in light of all the facts & opinions. How often do you hear a thief calling a thief a thief? Woof! Woof!

  13. #13 by yhsiew on Sunday, 11 November 2012 - 1:36 am

    冰冻三尺,非一日之寒 – Rome is not built in one day. Malaysia’s current poor TI CPI ranking is the result of corruption practices in high places over the years and decades.

  14. #14 by yhsiew on Sunday, 11 November 2012 - 2:29 am

    Iraq cancels $4.2bn Russian arms deal over ‘corruption’
    @@http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20278774

    Even the Iraqi government has the political will to fight corruption. On the contrary, Malaysia is heading towards a bottomless pit as far as fighting corruption is concerned.

  15. #15 by boh-liao on Sunday, 11 November 2012 - 8:22 am

    I raq no standard lah, 1M’sia under Umnob/BN proudly d model state of RACE, RELIGION, n self-enriching CORRUPTION

    • #16 by cemerlang on Sunday, 11 November 2012 - 10:08 am

      hit swollen face skin
      become fat man

  16. #17 by jus legitimum on Sunday, 11 November 2012 - 12:47 pm

    The whole trouble is there are many imbeciles and idiots who still accept it as perception rather than truth.Steve Oh is right when he says many muslims in this country are the nominal ones rather than the real ones.

  17. #18 by dagen wanna "ABU" on Monday, 12 November 2012 - 3:53 pm

    So umno you messed up big time.
    You are now in deep trouble.
    And you know it!

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