The 15th General Election

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blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun MMahathir Mohamad 1. The 15th General Election was the most corrupt of all the elections held in independent Malaysia. Every single candidate who won, was because of bribes given to the voters.
2. The bribes were given openly. Many received the bribes just before going in to vote. There were lots of people who saw the money being handed over. There was little or no attempt to hide as the money was being given and the instruction regarding which symbol to cross in the voting slip.
3. The anti-corruption people and even the police must have seen the acts of bribing. But to date no one had been arrested or charged. Bribing the voters had become the norm. The voters expected it, the party officials regard it as their job and those who saw the bribing felt what was happening was a part of the process of election.
4. But there were other evidence of corruption during election which took place unhindered. It is obvious that huge amounts of money were expanded in promoting the candidate and the parties. It is normal in Malaysia to have the towns, the villages and the countryside blanketed with flags, buntings, posters and sign boards. Party flags by the millions would obliterate the road dividers, the roadsides, the lamposts, the trees and bushes.
5. They are not cheap. Flags cost at least RM3/- each. The bamboo sticks and the work sticking them in the ground or hanging them would cost another RM3/-. Every flag that was put up would cost RM6/-. And there were tens of thousands in each constituency. There must be millions in the whole country.
6. A million would cost RM6 million. 10 million would cost RM60 million. There are 222 constitutes.
7. There were thousands of workers and party “volunteers” who were paid.
8. Perhaps each party would spend RM100 million. Many said it was more. A single candidate is known to spend as much a 25 million Ringgits.
9. Even if each party spent 100 million Ringgit, the question that needs to be asked is where did so much money come from.
10. Same maybe from donations. But for Government parties the money must be from the Government.
11. In the investigation of corruption one of the grounds for suspicion is unusual wealth. If a low paid employee is enjoying great wealth, there should be suspicion that the wealth is not legally acquired. Investigation includes questioning the source of income. If there is no acceptable explanation then further investigation is warranted.
12. In elections, if a candidate or a party indulge in lavish spending investigation should be carried out as to the source of the funds.
13. In the 15th General Election the anti-corruption agency of the Government should investigate the parties which seems to have huge funds spent on bribing the voters and the massive expenditure on campaign. The source of funds must be explained. Failure to do so would warrant extensive investigations.
14. If it is discovered that the money had come from illegal sources, the candidate or the party should be charged.
15. It is important to fix the limit to the amount spent during election. Already each candidate is required to submit an account of the money he had spent during the election. The amount he is allowed to spend is RM200,000/-. But looking at the campaign it is obvious more than RM200,000/- was spent.
16. Even if an account is submitted and the amount spent is within limits, it may be necessary to investigate whether the account submitted is correct.
17. The penalty for wrongful submission should range from fines to loss of seat won.
18. At the moment there is no limit to the amount a party could spend in an election. There is a need to limit the amount. What is happening now is that the bribes and the money spent on campaigning is limitless.
19. It has been proven that a Prime Minister had stolen huge amount of money so as to give big bribes and conduct massive costly campaigns. Such are the amounts spent that parties which had no stolen money or are against bribery stand no chance of winning at all.
20. In the 15th General Election it can be truthfully said that almost every single candidate who won, did so because he had offered big bribes and his party had spent hundreds of millions on campaigning.
21. The result is that only corrupt candidates and corrupt parties won in the elections.
22. Which of course mean that the Government of Malaysia will always be corrupt.
23. A country ruled by corrupt Governments will be a heavy burden on the people. Already Malaysian, including Malays are migrating to foreign countries.
24. The country will become a failed country. That would be a pity as it has been shown that Malaysia could become a successful Asian Tiger.
25. There are a lot of good people in Malaysia. But they are not voting. If they vote then we will be successful again.

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