If half the allegations made against him over the RM2.8 million bungalow are true, Lim Guan Eng's days as Chief Minister of Penang are numbered. I think he knows it.

Pool or no swimming pool, it's a mistake to think that you can fool the Rakyat. And I think deep inside he knows that, too. If Guan Eng thought the open house he held at his controversial bungalow for the selected media (for the record, I was not invited) would make him appear "open", like he had nothing to hide, well he thought wrong. Khir Toyo, the Selangor MB then, was convicted on what seemed to some to be a lesser sin. So Guan Eng will get no sympathies from the Rakyat on this matter. And certainly none from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

I am a believer that you're innocent until proven guilty, something I'm not sure Guan Eng abides by all the time.

I also believe that the MACC is more interested in Guan Eng's bungalow than a lot of people give them credit for. Many forget that eversince Teoh Beng Hock's death, Abu Kassim and the MACC have kept out of the DAP's way. Accusing of murder when that was not what happeend [MACC admits negligence, pays RM600k to TBH family], the MACC almost lost its will to probe the DAP for any alleged wrong-doing or corrupt practices. The case that it was investigating at the time of TBH's death, for example, was it ever pursued?

One got the impression that for the MACC, it was safer, after TBH, to go after alleged corruption involving the Federal government and the ruling BN coalition.

If there's evidence of corruption in the Penang bungalow case - and a lot of people are suggesting that there's more than enough of it (More damning evidence against LGE by Bujai] - Abu Kassim is gointg to go after Guan Eng like tonnes of bricks.

A lot at stake for Abu Kassim and the MACC

The MACC boss has lost some of the goodwill of his old die-hard supporters from the TBH days [read The bulls and bulls of Abu Kassim by A Voice], but I believe he will do his job, without fear or favour. I only hope the MACC will not go after Guan Eng with innuendos and incomplete investigations, and that they will be driven by a hunger for the truth and for redemption, not a need to get even ....

BY ROCKY'S BRU at
http://www.rockybru.com.my/2016/03/a-lot-at-stake-than-just-guan-engs.html?m=1

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JOHOR BARU: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission today confirmed that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has agreed to be interviewed over the RM2.6bil transferred into his personal account.

MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed said the prime minister will give his full cooperation to assist in the investigation.

He said MACC is still awaiting a suitable date and time to enable them to record a statement from the PM.

"MACC hopes the matter (recording the statement) can be done by the end of the year," he said.

Abu Kassim was speaking at a press conference after attending a basic training completion event for MACC officers at the Johor MACC headquarters, today.

Abu Kassim was responding to a statement by Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, whom yesterday had asked MACC to record Najib's statement concerning the RM2.6 billion.

Apandi, in an interview with an online portal, had said he had instructed MACC to finalise its probe into former 1Malaysia Development Bhd subsidiary, SRC International, and the RM2.6 billion.

Source : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/11/pm-agrees-give-statement-macc-over-rm26b-donation

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Plan C is for the MACC to arrest Najib under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act, which is punishable under Section 24 of the same Act and, upon conviction, carries the same jail term as Section 124 of the Penal Code, which is 20 years.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Azmin Ali has denied meeting ex-Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to discuss the plot to oust Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Azmin did not deny the meeting. He denied the reason for the meeting. The purpose of meeting the Deputy Prime Minister, said Azmin, was to discuss the water issue in Selangor.

But then there is already a Minister in charge of handling the water issue. This is the man who is going to settle the water negotiations between the state and the federal government. What has the Deputy Prime Minister got to do with the water issue?

Well, Azmin also denied meeting Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in London. He denied it ‘sekeras-kerasnya’, like he denied ‘sekeras-kerasnya’ meeting Muhyiddin to plot the vote of no confidence against Najib. But now it has been confirmed that Azmin did, in fact, meet Dr Mahathir in London.

The purpose of the meeting in London was for Azmin to deliver a message from Anwar Ibrahim. Pakatan Rakyat will support any move to oust Najib if Dr Mahathir can agree to a pardon for Anwar whereby he would then be released from jail.

Dr Mahathir, however, turned down the proposal. If Anwar’s pardon and freedom is part of the deal then Dr Mahathir is not interested. Anwar cannot be part of the equation.

The next day Azmin flew back to Malaysia and two days later he went to meet Anwar in the Sungai Buloh Prison (see photo below) to deliver the bad news. And the bad news is ‘no deal’.

Lim Guan Eng has also denied meeting Muhyiddin to discuss the plot to oust Najib. He did not deny meeting Muhyiddin but he said he met the Deputy Prime Minister only to discuss government business.

Well, Guan Eng also denied being behind the plot to bring down PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang and denied being behind the plot to create a new Islamic party called GHB or PAS 2.0. He also denied giving the Team B in PAS a couple of million Ringgit. But it is now proven that that denial is false.

Of course they would all deny meeting the Deputy Prime Minister to discuss the plot to oust the Prime Minister. If they admit to being involved in that conspiracy then they risk arrest under Section 124 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of 20 years upon conviction.

Furthermore, if they admit that Muhyiddin was leading a conspiracy to oust Najib then he also risks facing disciplinary action and may be suspended or sacked from Umno even if he is not arrested and charged under Section 124.

Okay, what if I were to reveal that certain MIC leaders also met Muhyiddin to discuss leaving Barisan Nasional to join DAP? And what if I were to reveal that Muhyiddin told them to hold on a while longer because very soon Najib is going to be ousted.

Amongst these MIC leaders were Datuk Seri G Palanivel, Datuk S Soothinathan, Tan Sri S Balakrishnan, Anbumani Balan and Datin Seri P. Kanagam.

They are probably going to deny the meeting. But then if I were to show the photograph of the meeting they would most likely not deny the meeting but will deny the purpose of the meeting and tell us that it was to discuss ‘Indian matters’.

MIC

Anyway, Plan A (which was to pass a vote of no confidence against Najib in Parliament) and Plan B (which was to force Najib to resign during the 29th July Cabinet meeting or else face arrest) have both fallen flat when both the Deputy Prime Minister and the Attorney General were replaced.

So, since Plans A and B have failed, they now need to go to Plan C, and if that fails as well, then finally to Plan X.

And what is Plan C?

Plan C is for the MACC to arrest Najib under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act, which is punishable under Section 24 of the same Act and, upon conviction, carries the same jail term as Section 124 of the Penal Code, which is 20 years.

But then, just like in the case of Plans A and B, Najib pre-empted this move and removed certain key MACC officers and transferred them to the Prime Minister’s Department.

So now they are crying ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘unjust’ and so on. Hello! Brader! This is politics mah! In politics you make your move and pre-empt the move by the other side. You strike before your adversaries strike and checkmate them every step of the way.

Is this not also what Dr Mahathir used to do? And is this not why he remained Prime Minister for 22 years when they tried to remove him after only six years in office?

So it looks like Plan C, just like Plans A and B, has failed. So they may have to move to the final Plan, which is Plan X. I can more or less ‘smell’ what Plan X is going to be because one opposition leader warned me about ‘The Big One’, which is coming in October.

What is ‘The Big One’? And why is it going to be in October? This opposition leader did not tell me other than ‘The Big One is going to happen in October’. And is this ‘Big One’ Plan X?

Sheesh. October is another two months from now. You mean we have to wait another two months before we know what ‘The Big One’ is and whether it is Plan X? And does Najib also know what ‘The Big One’ is? And does he have a plan on how to pre-empt ‘The Big One’ like he pre-empted Plans A, B and C?

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OMG! OMG! OMG! 
It was the DAP and PKR that didn't want political funding transperancy!!!

31 July 2015
Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan
Director of Strategic Communication, Barisan Nasional

POLITICAL FUNDING: ADDRESSING A REALITY

First, let’s talk facts. Political donation is legal in Malaysia.

If you have special preference for a political party and believe in their struggle, you can help them achieve their goals by donating your money and/or assets. Truth be told, you can donate any amount you like: 10 ringgit, 1000 ringgit or even a million – or a billion ringgit for that matter – if you have that kind of amount to spare.

Looking back, I used to be a member of the MACC's Special Committee on Corruption for a span of 5 years (2008-2013). I know for a fact that those fine men and women of the MACC have been trying to get political parties to agree to a more transparent procedure when it comes to political donations.

MACC has said that they aspire to have all donations officially declared in the name of transparency and accountability. When the MACC came up with the notion of political funding reforms, the first head of a political party who supported the idea, would probably surprise you. It was none other than Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak, the UMNO President who publicly declared his support to the MACC's proposal and wanted it to be implemented and co-opted under the Government Transformation Program's initiative.

One of the first parties to object to the funding reform was DAP. The reason given by DAP was largely self-serving – and what a huge disappointment that had been. DAP's leaders said they feared that the reform would put DAP at a disadvantage.

On 1 December 2010, in a meeting with Transparency International – Malaysia (TI-M) with Pakatan Rakyat’s members of parliament, Tian Chua was reported in the minutes of the meeting to have said, “he feared that full disclosure would hurt their contributors and consequently the financing for the opposition, the fear is that the donors might be prosecuted by the winning coalition for supporting the losing coalition in any general election. This would result in a substantial decline of income source for the losing coalition”.

DAP’s Rasah MP Anthony Loke said essentially the same in a Bar Council Forum about political funding on 29 September 2011.

Going along the same argument, why couldn’t Pakatan Rakyat reveal since 2008 the donations they have received from businessmen and individuals in the two richest states they governed – Penang and Selangor – in Malaysia?

Clearly the fear of backlash as cited by Tian Chua and Anthony Loke was just a lame excuse and not done in the best interest of transparency.

Everyone knows that the opposition parties are quite savvy in raising funds for their operations. It is also an open secret that they receive political funding from interested businesses and individuals, not to mention from the traditional but effective fund-raising dinners held almost weekly (if not nightly). While no one will be surprised if the funding comes from domestic sources, many people have been speculating that opposition parties also receive funding from foreign sources, too. Some seem to be disguised as NGO funding for the advancement of democratic ideals. Or so it would seem.

Coming back to matters at hand and with that strong objection from DAP, the political funding reform initiative was effectively shelved – it became a non-starter. It never took off. It stalled. Until now many people couldn’t believe why DAP – a political party that prides itself as reformist party – didn't accede to the idea. It seems to many people political contribution for DAP is very crucial. Thus any disruption to the free flow of political funding would be disastrous to DAP's grand plan of Malaysian Malaysia. Otherwise, an unequivocal rejection by DAP of a sure slam-dunk reform initiative like this seemed very odd indeed.

No thanks to DAP, Malaysia has lost a great opportunity to address the growing concerns of secrecy regarding political funding in this country.

So, I find it rather perplexing that lately the likes of Tony Pua and Lim Kit Siang have been hypocrite enough in demanding Dato' Sri Najib to reveal the sources of political funding for UMNO, when they have maliciously rejected the political funding reform initiative in the first place.

I recall in minute detail a debate I had in parliament after the 12th general election. I asked DAP MPs how did DAP get so much money to build their new spanking multi million state headquarters in Penang within a mere 2 years of Lim Guan Eng becoming the Chief Minister. After alI, I said it took Gerakan a long 12 years to build its state headquarters which happens to be just an ordinary premise. And I reminded DAP not to forget its socialist roots, which includes loathing anything that smacks of grandeur. As if on cue, several DAP MPs rose to their feet and started hackling me in the middle of my speech. One of them, Ngeh Koo Ham, DAP’s MP for Bruas, shouted across the divide, that DAP had plenty of supporters who were willing to donate their money for DAP’s cause.

On another occasion, during the Permatang Pauh election in 2008 (when Anwar Ibrahim stood as parliamentary candidate), for the first time in the whole of my political career, BN was out-spent in terms of logistics and election machinery e.g. posters, banners and campaign activities. Every time we planted one BN flag, within 2 hours it would be drowned by hundreds of opposition flags. Whenever we put up sizeable banners, the opposition would outdo us with twice the magnitude within half a day.

It is clear that without huge political donation, there is no way for the opposition parties to run their massive election machinery.

Based on this ethos of political funding, UMNO too, is familiar to to such pursuit. It is my hope that Tun Dr Mahathir does remember his blog posting, which was published on 13 June 2008, where he admitted that he handed over RM1.4 billion – in cash and assets – to the then newly minted UMNO president, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2003.

That was the value of UMNO's cash and assets back then. Fast forward 12 years to the present day, taking into consideration inflation over the years and the greater challenges to fund UMNO and BN state liaison committees in states which they lost since 2008, I won't be surprised if UMNO leadership has to be more proactive to solicit more funding from its supporters and donors.

All said and done, there is now a louder demand to regulate political donations and the opposition especially DAP can't ignore it anymore. But until such monumental leap of faith becomes a reality within the opposition's coalition, one should never be deluded enough to hold the higher ground against another.

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