MONEY politics can be infectious and cancerous.
It seems there is no escaping it in the Malaysian context.
The latest brouhaha involves a clip purportedly showing PKR Batu Youth chief candidate Fatin Izzaty Muhammad giving money in the run-up to PKR’s election which is due to be held tomorrow (April 19).
As reported in Malaysiakini, the video which appears to have been secretly recorded shows Fatin giving out money and asking people to vote for “YB Praba’s” (Batu PKR chief P. Prabakaran) team”, including herself.
Fatin who was the former Puteri UMNO Kepong chief has claimed it was “donations” to individuals whom she regularly helps. She further stated that the viral clip was released with ill-intent to discredit her.
This somehow led to former Batu PKR branch secretary Yuslaini Azmi warning party members to be vigilant and to guard against “UMNO’s culture of corruption”.
Taking extreme umbrage of this was firebrand UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhammad Akmal Saleh who on his Facebook page hit back at the insinuation that corruption was an UMNO disease.
Arguing that the issue of corruption was down to individual ethics and not specific to any one party, the Merlimau state assemblyman further pointed out that one could not polish a turd for the tainted individual would be the same no matter which party he or she joined.
The 36-year-old firebrand politician asked those making such assumptions to hold up a mirror for some self-reflection before casting aspersions on other political parties.
Quite a few fans echoed sentiments expressed by the Melaka Rural Development, Agriculture and Food Security Committee chairman that UMNO has been unfairly singled out for its culture of money politics.
Another commenter pointed to the “elephant in the room”, chiding Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for wanting to combat corruption but is unable to see the problem within his own ranks.
One commenter was of the opinion that while money politics was indeed prevalent in the past in UMNO, it has since long been abandoned. The number of ‘laughing’ emojis perhaps indicative of this commenter’s naivety.
Another quite possibly hit the nail on the head, observing there is little to differentiate between UMNO and PKR, thus surmising that both parties are cut from the same cloth.
In fact, as one commenter contended that all politicians were guilty of corruption.
Who takes offence is really no concern to the rakyat.
What citizens want to know if real decisive action will be taken, especially when there is concrete evidence as with this video clip?
Corruption is endemic so much so that seemingly guilty politicians can offer up the flimsiest of excuses and they expect the common man to swallow it.
Ranging from the “donations to needy individuals” in this video to “royalties from album”, it seems that politicians (and their spouses) can dismiss any claims of impropriety.
Will there be any action be taken over the contents of this latest video? Or will the money machine just keeps spinning? – April 18, 2025
