Cash of RM150,000, 50 acres of land, at least RM5,000 extra monthly allowance, a service centre and a private assistant. These goodies were offered by an alleged agent of Prime Minister Najib Razak to Gwee Tiong Hiang to change parties.
Gwee is the DAP assemblyman for Bentayan. He was recently suspended for six months by the party for improper conduct relating to party funding. And it may well be due to of this, that he was targeted by an "ever-hungry" BN hoping to turn him against his party while he was going through a rough patch.
"I am embarrassed that such a thing is still happening and in Johor of all places. It shows the desperation of the BN and is reflection of the utter failure of the MCA in the state that they have to rely on such dirty politicking to win the 13th general election," Johor PKR chief Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.
Money to come from federal coffers
Gwee dropped the bombshell on Saturday, claiming that the first contact was made via telephone on Sept 26, just 2 days after his suspension.
If Gwee had accepted, he would have been the third DAP assemblymen to either join the BN or be a BN-friendly representative since the 2008 general election. The other two are Perak's Hee Yit Foong and Keshvinder Singh.
According to Gwee, a man claiming to be the secretary-general of the Johor Baru Wee clan association, also guaranteed that Gwee, will be given support if he contests in the next general election against DAP.
The money for defecting would come from the federal coffers, but channeled through the clan association, Gwee was told.
Gwee said the 'agent' came to meet him on Sept 28 to offer the first RM50,000. The agent was accompanied by a Malay man who said he was representing the Prime Minister's Department. The Malay man also promised to set up a meeting with Najib on Oct 3.
Only DAP for me
On Sept 30, the agent called Gwee again. The DAP man played the phone recordings of the Sept 26 and 30 for reporters to hear at the press conference.
"The man said he feels sorry for me; that we share the same surname and that he wants to help me because my party does not want me anymore," said an emotional Gwee, who broke down into tears.
"But I feel I am still a DAP (assemblyperson). This BN offer was not right, I have to expose it. I can tell the BN that not every assemblyperson or MP of DAP can be bought over. I love the party. My party is only DAP."
Gwee reported the matter to the DAP central executive committee on Sept 29, and will lodge a police report later on Saturday in Muar. He will also file a report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in Pahang next week as Muar does not have an MACC office.
Malaysia Chronicle
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