Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's call to government agencies and government linked-companies to increase their advertisements inUtusan Malaysia has been described as a "poorly-disguised bailout attempt using taxpayers' monies".
"The move is even more shocking as Utusan Malaysia is owned by Umno, and Najib is the party's president.
"This is the principal reason why Najib can never be trusted to carry out our much needed reforms, and why the people's financial interests will continue to be jeopardised," DAP publicity secretary Tony Pua said today.
"Hence, Najib is in effect channelling the rakyat's money to save his own party, a direct conflict of interest," Pua, who is also the MP for Petaling Jaya Utara, added in a statement.
He said Najib's call to boost the finances of Utusan Malaysia went the opposite way of his own declaration of "a transparent, accountable and good governance" as demanded by the Government Transformation Programme Najib launched with much fanfare in 2009.
"The move is even more shocking as Utusan Malaysia is owned by Umno, and Najib is the party's president.
"This is the principal reason why Najib can never be trusted to carry out our much needed reforms, and why the people's financial interests will continue to be jeopardised," DAP publicity secretary Tony Pua said today."Hence, Najib is in effect channelling the rakyat's money to save his own party, a direct conflict of interest," Pua, who is also the MP for Petaling Jaya Utara, added in a statement.
He said Najib's call to boost the finances of Utusan Malaysia went the opposite way of his own declaration of "a transparent, accountable and good governance" as demanded by the Government Transformation Programme Najib launched with much fanfare in 2009.
'A betrayal of promises he made'
The prime minister's backing for Umno's "racist and extremist mouthpiece", Pua said, also showed that his call for reforms and his concern for all Malaysians cannot be trusted.
While Najib would not hesitate to cut petrol subsidies and raise taxes to burden the people, his call to divert public money to a newspaper with a small and declining circulation "is a betrayal of the promises he made" during the 13th general election campaign.
"The prime minister is only a pretend-reformer, an image cultivated by making ‘transformative' promises via grand public relations campaigns. These promises are broken at will, whenever the interests of Umno-Barisan Nasional, as well as their cronies, are at stake," Pua added.
Najib lauded Utusan in his speech on Thursday, when launching the Malay media group's new building and even renamed the road the building is located on after the 75-year-old newspaper.
The prime minister's backing for Umno's "racist and extremist mouthpiece", Pua said, also showed that his call for reforms and his concern for all Malaysians cannot be trusted.
While Najib would not hesitate to cut petrol subsidies and raise taxes to burden the people, his call to divert public money to a newspaper with a small and declining circulation "is a betrayal of the promises he made" during the 13th general election campaign.
"The prime minister is only a pretend-reformer, an image cultivated by making ‘transformative' promises via grand public relations campaigns. These promises are broken at will, whenever the interests of Umno-Barisan Nasional, as well as their cronies, are at stake," Pua added.
Najib lauded Utusan in his speech on Thursday, when launching the Malay media group's new building and even renamed the road the building is located on after the 75-year-old newspaper.
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