Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should go on leave as Home Minister until two cases causing major embarrassment to the Barisan Nasional government had been settled.
Firstly, the case where Zahid was accused of causing hurt to Amir Abdullah Bazli in January 2006.
I agree with the former Kuala Lumpur CID director Mat Zain Ismail who said in a recent Open Letter that the fact that the Appeal Court had in a civil action unanimously ordered Zahid to answer the charges by Amir Abdullah means that Amir’s accusation is solid, raising the question why the police had failed to take action against Zahid for his offence of hurting Amir.
Mat Zain had rightly said in his Open Letter:
“PDRM will not be able to convince the people that it is acting fairly and adhering to the law if it fails to haul Zahid to court, especially when its former chief (former IGP Tan Sri Rahim Noor) was charged for the same offence.
“In fact, PDRM will lose moral ground as it cannot justify taking action against any lawbreaker, if it cannot even take action against its own Minister who has been judged a criminal by the courts.”
Secondly, the serious allegation that Zahid had violated election laws spending more than 10 times the RM200,000 expense limit for his parliamentary seat campaign in the 13th general election, to the tune of over RM2 million.
Zahid had in videos posted by himself on his official website that he had recruited 24,000 Bagan Datoh Barisan Nasional supporters, who are also local voters, as campaign workers in his run for the seat.
He also admitted, on video, to giving them RM100 and 5kg of rice each.
Apart from the election offence of money politics, it is ridiculously outrageous that Zahid should be employing 24000 “election workers” when the total electorate in Bagan Datoh parliamentary constituency is 34,670 voters and the total polled by Zahid himself is 17,176 votes – which works out to more than one “election worker” for one vote polled by Zahid, which must be a record by itself in Malaysian electoral politics.
(Media Conference Statement in Plentong, Johor Baru on Thursday, 13th June 2013 at 9 am)
#1 by cinaindiamelayubersatu on Thursday, 13 June 2013 - 8:22 pm
ah,kalau aku berhenti apa aku nak buat.panjat pokok kelapa macam kera kat kampung? aku belum puas kenakan kamu…jangan main api dengan aku. Kalau tak suka berambus ke jogja…
#2 by DAP man on Thursday, 13 June 2013 - 9:37 pm
Taking leave or resigning is not in BN’s vocabulary. In any case, isn’t UMNO above the law. They enjoy immunity – for bottom pinching, rape and even murder.
Little wonder why the case has been dragging on for 7 years. Perhaps waiting for Zahid to pay the plaintiff a few millions to withdraw his suit.
#3 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Thursday, 13 June 2013 - 9:51 pm
1) Never knew Zahid is something of an UFM (Ultimate Fighting machine).
2) Never knew Zahid can afford to give so much RM@ million away based on his income as a Minister. (But of course, he was Minister of Defence – the ministry that gave away millions in pocket money over the Scorpene deal well before his time. But is that tradition of giving away petty cash alive and well?) IS the case of giving RM100 + rice part of the minister’s unusual philanthropy?
#4 by Di Shi Jiu on Thursday, 13 June 2013 - 9:59 pm
Gosh, a 2006 assault case and only now it is going to court? I am surprise that Zahid has not settled out of court to make it go away!!!
As for the second case, surely the “hiring” of “24,000 campaign workers” and paying them RM100 plus 5kgs of rice contravenes the spirit of the Act which limits election expenses.
Zahid, show the rakyat that you are a man of principle and stand aside until the 2 cases are resolved.
#5 by Fort on Friday, 14 June 2013 - 12:46 am
It is strange that Zahid is not called up to answer the wrong he had done. If member of the opposition had done something similar, the police will be very efficient.
It is this sort of double standard in Malaysia that people loathe.
The law must be applied equally to all. Not only that, it must be seen to be done especially when a minister is found to have done wrong.
#6 by Cinapek on Friday, 14 June 2013 - 1:22 am
Hmm!?
“..employing 24000 “election workers” when the total electorate in Bagan Datoh parliamentary constituency is 34,670 voters and the total polled by Zahid himself is 17,176 votes.” while the 24,000 are also voters.
And paying the 24,000 RM100 each plus a 5kg bag of rice.
EC, I wonder what do you call this type of payment? Legitimate wages for work done or buying votes?
#7 by tuahpekkong on Friday, 14 June 2013 - 11:14 am
We had been told that the police and the MACC had vetted BN’s election candidates to make sure that they were free from taints of any sort before being allowed to contest in the election. Did they really carry out their duties judiciously or it was just BN’s propaganda exercise? No wonder the rakyat did not buy BN’s story. Had the police and the MACC carried out their work diligently, I wonder how many BN candidates were fit to contest.