Former Minister: BN ‘bombed’ voters with cash

Former Cabinet Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir says that cash was given to voters in previous elections and added the strategy was known as “bomb”.

Kadir, who is from Umno also added that he had himself seen how cash handouts that ranged from RM200 to RM1,000 was used in Barisan Nasional’s election campaigns to bribe voters in return for their support at the polls.

The former Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism, said that the word used for the strategy was known as “bomb”.

Speaking at a forum, he said "I have been the head of delegation of many campaigns and I have been given lump sums of money to distribute," said the former Information Minister at the Malaysia Strategic Outlook Conference 2012 here. "It was a blatant use of money to buy votes."

But he was quick to add that he personally didn’t use the money.

James Chin, who heads the School of Social Sciences at Monash University at Sunway, and who spoke at the forum after Abdul Kadir said that “bombing” was a very effective tool in Sabah and Sarawak.

Kadir said that while he still in Umno, he wanted to remind them of the “Merdeka trust” — which meant giving the people the right to truly free and fair elections.

Umno should not fear losing

Kadir also told Umno members not to fear losing if it was sincere in its intentions.

“If you lose accept it; people change governments all the time in US and Australia,” he said. “I am an Umno man, I don’t mind if I lose. If you are there just to make millions for yourself and your cronies or if I have made my billions and am afraid I will be arrested after I lose power, then I will do all these tricks.”

Kadir stressed that to have free and fair elections, there must be equal access to the media and GLCs and government departments must be neutral.

“You must give the opposition the freedom to have TV, radio and newspapers,” he said. “For 50 years, PAS has been asking for a newspaper licence but none given — the government is a big bully.”

Barisan Nasional, he said, should not be making use of the Ministry of Information, Felda, Felcra, the Special Branch and other federal agencies to support their campaign.

Malaysia Chronicle