All eyes now on Muhyiddin: Will he return his 'gambling' salaries

Sin money?

Malaysia Chronicle

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has called on Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to set a good example to Muslims by returning all his gambling-tainted salaries and allowances earned in the past 15 years as a minister in the federal Cabinet to the Treasury.

“Can Muhyiddin compute and declare how much salaries and allowances he would have to return to the Treasury as Federal Minister in the past 15 years because they come from the Federal Government Consolidated Fund which includes gambling tax,” Kit Siang said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to Kit Siang, Muhyiddin’s past Cabinet portfolios were Minister of Youth and Sports (1995–1999), Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (1999–2004), Minister of Agriculture (2004–2008) and Minister of International Trade and Industry (2008–2009) before becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Education minister in April 2009.

Hypocrisy

Indeed Muhyiddin had annoyed many Malaysians with what many perceived to be hypocrisy and double standards by declaring last week that Muslims would not want any “part” in money that was derived from gambling sources.

Muhyiddin

He was trying to score political points against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, whose administration had paid RM100 to each senior citizen in the state. Umno leaders and supporters had accused Guan Eng of financing the payment through funds from gambling activities of the Penang Turf Club, which Guan Eng has denied.

“We want an answer from Lim. If the money is from a forbidden source, Muslims will have no part in it,” Bernama had reported Muhyiddin as saying.

Kit Siang supported his claim that Muhyiddin’s salary came from funds that included gambling revenue by pointing to the June meeting of Parliament, where DAP MP for Rasah Anthony Loke had asked Prime Minister Najib Razak whether income from gambling was separated from the Consolidated Fund.

Loke also asked what was the mechanism used to manage the gambling revenue, how the government used this sort of money and what percentage was channeled to deal with social woes resulting from gambling activities.

Najib’s reply was: “At this time, revenue from gambling activities are categorized as government revenue. Based on Article 97 of the Federal Constitution and Financial Procedure Act 1957 (revised in 1972) all taxation or revenue received by the federal government will be credited into the Consolidated Fund.

“The Consolidated Fund comprises three main accounts, the Consolidated Account, the Consolidated Trust Account and the Consolidated Loans Account. All revenue from payment of taxes are put into the Consolidated Account like all other government revenue and is used for purposes of management spending and national development.”

Irresponsible

Gambling tax collected by the BN federal government amounted to RM2.3 billion in 2009 and this figure included taxes from the casino in Genting Highlands and from revenue of numbers forecasting operators such as Magnum and Sports Toto.

Kit Siang

“As Muhyiddin said that Muslims do not want to be associated with money from “a forbidden source”, and part of the expenditure for national management and development including paying the salaries and allowances of Cabinet Ministers is sourced from gambling revenue, the Deputy Prime Minister must be consistent and return all his salaries and allowances as Cabinet Minister going back to 15 years to the Treasury,” said Kit Siang.

“It is most unfortunate that instead of advising Penang Umno not to resort to irresponsible politicking, as falsely accusing the Penang government of using gambling money to pay RM100 annually to senior citizens in the state aged above 60 years, Muhyiddin acted in a most irresponsible manner in aiding and abetting Penang Umno’s “political desperado” tactics.”