Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim said today Dr Mahathir Mohamad's statement that money politics is still rife in Umno may be based on "hearsay".
"Maybe his comment was based in hearsay, but the real situation is it is difficult to bribe, because they would have to bribe at least 75,000 members. Who can afford that?" Shahidan (left) asked when talking to reporters at the Parliament building today.
However, he appeared defensive when asked to confirm if he though that the former prime minister, who led the country for more than two decades, would make such a statement based on hearsay.
"Tun Mahathir is my idol. Don't pit me against him. It's not fair, in my opinion this is just hearsay," he said.
Shahidan also stressed that he was personally not involved in money politics, and insisted that it was "difficult" to get involved in money politics.
Yesterday, Mahathir in his speech at an event in Putrajaya said while Umno claimed to have eliminated corruption in its latest party polls, he was not convinced.
Mahathir also said many "undeserving" people won in its recent party elections, which saw the party increase it's voting base to 146,000 delegates.
"Maybe his comment was based in hearsay, but the real situation is it is difficult to bribe, because they would have to bribe at least 75,000 members. Who can afford that?" Shahidan (left) asked when talking to reporters at the Parliament building today.However, he appeared defensive when asked to confirm if he though that the former prime minister, who led the country for more than two decades, would make such a statement based on hearsay.
"Tun Mahathir is my idol. Don't pit me against him. It's not fair, in my opinion this is just hearsay," he said.
Shahidan also stressed that he was personally not involved in money politics, and insisted that it was "difficult" to get involved in money politics.
Yesterday, Mahathir in his speech at an event in Putrajaya said while Umno claimed to have eliminated corruption in its latest party polls, he was not convinced.Mahathir also said many "undeserving" people won in its recent party elections, which saw the party increase it's voting base to 146,000 delegates.
However, Shahidan claimed that the new system enabled a larger voting base, which meant fewer incidents of money politics in the party.
“No one can afford to pay 80,000 members - even if they give RM100 each you need RM8 million,” added Shahidan, who is also an Umno supreme council member.
He said that such an amount of money would be serve better if “donated to an orphanage”.
Shahidan went on to claim that he was Mahathir’s “strongman”, but while he had heard similar claims of money politics before, he said had never encountered any such case personally.
“No one can afford to pay 80,000 members - even if they give RM100 each you need RM8 million,” added Shahidan, who is also an Umno supreme council member.
He said that such an amount of money would be serve better if “donated to an orphanage”.
Shahidan went on to claim that he was Mahathir’s “strongman”, but while he had heard similar claims of money politics before, he said had never encountered any such case personally.
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