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When corruption rears its ugly head ...

THE NATIONAL FRONT (BN) AND UMNO could have done without a byelection in Kuala Berang in Trengganu. But the sitting state assemblyman, Mr Komaruddin Abdul Rahman, died unexpectedly in July.

It is an election the BN candidate must be returned so the Prime Minister and UMNO president-to-be, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, could hold on to his faltering throne. So it sends as many supporters as the 11,500 voters to accompany its candidate to file his nomination papers.

PAS equally needs to be returned here to show that it remains a force even if it lost control of the state in the March 2004 general election, and it came with 4,000 voters.

So it does not surprise that the UMNO deputy president-to-be and Malaysian deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, has promised to swamp the Kuala Berang constituency with 30,000 election workers, or three worker to one candidate.

What is unmentioned is what it would cost UMNO for this alone: but at RM100 honorarium a worker (which is what UMNO pays) and food and lodging, it would cost RM1.5 million a day for about a fortnight, or about RM21 million. Add the other expenses, and it would get to be an unusually expensive election.

The Elections Commission should have stepped in, but it would not. How can it when it's election officer in Kuala Berang invited Dato' Seri Najib and his immediate coterie in airconditioned rooms, and ignores the PAS team? Or that it exists to ensure UMNO would continue to dominate the federal government?

But to help the UMNO candidate, all this external costs are ignored, and only the actual expenses the candidate spends on his campaign, like the printing of posters and others that point to him personally, is all that need be submitted.

The EC has another scandal in its closet: Pak Lah's election expenses were not filed with the EC within the time allowed, but it was quietly accepted after the PAS candidate in his Kepala Batas parliamentary constituency in the 2004 March general elections questioned it.

The UMNO elections next month has Pak Lah cabinet ministers and supporters fighting tooth and nail to be returned, and reveal details as this with impunity. Money politics is alive and well in UMNO, andis an euphemism for corruption.

The hottest "surat layang" ("flying letters", usually anonymous attacks on individuals and their foibles) this time is the full list of the more than 2,000 delegates, with their personal details. The candidates for the UMNO vice-presidency and the supreme council contact the delegates with this list and bribe them for their votes. Each candidate for high office must pay more than RM1 million, although sums of up to RM10 million is not unheard of.

For the UMNO supreme council, the Sabah chief minister, Dato' Musa Aman offers RM1,000 a delegate in three tranches of RM200, RM300 and RM500; the Selangor mentri besar, Dato' Mohamed Khir Toyo offers RM1,000 or RM500 a delegate, depending on where he is from; those offering RM500 a vote are the Titiwangsa MP, Dato' Astaman Aziz; the deputy finance minister, Tengku Putra Tengku Awang; the deputy tourism minister and a former UMNO youth chief, Dato' Zahid Hamidi; the works deputy minister, Dato' Mohamed Zain Mohamed; the deputy rural and territory development minister and the former Tenaga Nasional Berhad chairman, Dato' Awang Adek Hussein.

Those offering RM300 a delegate include the brother of the Sabah chief minister and deputy plantation industries and commodities minister, Dato' Anifa Aman, who has paid at least 60 delegates in Kedah; the rural and territory development minister, Dato' Seri Aziz Shamsuddin; the former Sabah deputy chief minister, Dato' Seri Lajim Ukin (in two tranches of RM200 and RM100; the deputy human resources minister, Dato' Rahman Bakar. The lowest on offer is RM150 and a book by the former Bank Rakyat chairman, Dr Norraesa Mohamed.

Interestingly, two candidates for the vice-presidency – the former cabinet minister and now MP from Johore, Dato' Shahrir Samad, and the minister with special functions, Dato' Mustapa Mohamed – stick to their principle of not paying for their votes. Another was in Sabah recently, distributed RM3,000 for a vote. How much he spent on that is not known. The minister of science, technology and innovation, Dato' Jamaluddin Jarjis, paid RM1,000 in 2001, and delegates expect nothing less from him. He he has not showed his hand yet;.

The delegates hold their ground and demand to be paid for their vote, taking them from any quarter, and then often vote for whomsoever they choose. They also make hay while the sun shines, and demand contributions for their expenses during the four days of the UMNO general assembly next month.

This rush to collect the money has reached a sophistication that was unheard of three years ago. It is now common practice for delegates to send their banking details by SMS to business men and others.

What could Pak Lah do when the UMNO code and his own injunction against corruption is cheerfully and blatantly ignored by his own cabinet ministers and supporters? Would he dare to haul them before the carpet?

A high level task force is set up to monitor the spread of corruption in this election. If it comes out with a report that corruption is contained, no one would believe it. If it says corruption is widespread, and the disciplinary board acts on it, it would destroy his government. He is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Unfortunately, the rot has set in too deep in UMNO, and by extension the other members of BN, that it cannot be reversed without physical and metaphorical bloodshed. The UMNO code of ethics and the pious intonations about not indulging in corruption – all right, money politics – fall on deaf ears. It is too widespread for anyone to stop it.

It cannot even be curbed. The UMNO president-to-be himself is not above subborning corruption – as defined by the courts in the Anwar Ibrahim trials – to ensure he is unchallenged as UMNO president next month, and to ensure his favourites are returned. There is nothing anyone can do about it, short of a revolution.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com