IT has been barely 48 hours since the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) in his royal address when opening Parliament on Monday (Feb 26) warned of attempts to topple the unity government, implicitly by way of enticing lawmakers to switch sides.
But some obstinate MPs are more than happy to dwell on the subject in the august house than more pressing concerns like how to alleviate the rising costs of living among Malaysians or arresting the plunging ringgit against major currencies, notably the greenback and Singapore dollar.
Yesterday (Feb 28) Tasek Gelugor Bersatu MP Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan when debating the motion of thanks on the Royal Address in the Dewan Rakyat disclosed attempts to get him to switch allegiance.
He alleged that several meetings had taken place in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya with unnamed individuals between Jan 17 (at the Westin Kuala Lumpur in Bukit Bintang) and Feb 26 (at the JW Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur) this year. The individuals had offered him RM1.7 mil for his constituency.
They also allegedly promised that the corruption charges which Wan Saiful is facing will be dropped if the Bersatu MP were to join six other MPs from his party who had pledged their support for the Madani administration.
Barely hours after the disclosure in the Federal legislative assembly, Wan Saiful received a text from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) official seeking more information about the alleged lure. Wan Saiful, who is facing charges for soliciting bribes, has pledged to co-operate.
Notwithstanding this, there are several troubling questions over Wan Saiful’s exposé. Why did Wan Saiful choose to disclose this in Dewan Rakyat where he enjoys legal immunity?
Amid interjection from government backbenchers who claimed that he has made malicious accusation lest he lodged an official report to the graft buster agency, Wan Saiful has also angered Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul who described the opposition MP’s allegation as a “hearsay” for it indirectly implicated Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
If his allegations are true, shouldn’t Wan Saiful have lodged a report with the authorities like the MACC from the get-go since a clear-cut case of corruption has taken place? As a lawmaker, the former National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) chairman should also know that not reporting a crime is in itself a crime.
And what took him so long to disclose the alleged attempt to entice him to switch sides through corrupt means? If he were steadfast against political corruption of the kind frowned upon by the Agong, shouldn’t he have immediately reported the matter to the authorities?
Wan Saiful would have the identities of the alleged “power brokers” that would facilitate the authorities’ probe into the illegal practice and trace the mastermind behind the supposed move. But without an official report, the authorities would not even know that an alleged crime had taken place, much less start a probe.
Nevertheless, not all is lost on Wan Saiful. To clear his name and debunk claims that his allegations in the Dewan Rakyat was a bluster – or done for political mileage – he should not just disclose the information to the MACC but also make public the details. This is a matter of public interests and the people have the right to know.
Only then will he be able to demonstrate his commitment in standing against political corruption that has threatened to undermine the spirit of democracy in this country.
Failure to do this will only unmask Wan Saiful, a former think-tanker, as nothing more than a political showman more adept at theatrics than a lawmaker teeming with nation-building ideas. – Feb 29, 2024
