PARLIAMENT The four official events attended by the ministers in the prime minister's department during the Sarawak state polls, totalled RM100,050 in costs.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Azalina Othman Said, disclosed this in a parliamentary written reply yesterday to Anthony Loke (DAP-Seremban).
Loke had asked the prime minister to disclose in detail the government programmes attended by the cabinet members during the state election there.
He also wanted the premier to reveal the cost for each programme.
Kuching also played host to the cabinet meeting on May 4.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem had rained Sarawak with considerable allocations during the campaign period.
According to a non-exhaustive list compiled by Malaysiakini, the total announced amounted to at least RM382.8 million.
The figure was based on Malaysiakini’s reports throughout the campaign trail, as well as sourced from other media. However, not all announcements disclosed the amounts involved.
The money came in many forms, including allocations and projects being approved or announced during the campaign trail, and promises for the future.
By far the biggest giver was Najib, who announced at least RM255 million to benefit Sarawak in the nearly two-week campaign period, which officially started on nomination day on April 25.
Academician James Chin had claimed that cash handouts and development allocations were among the main factors that led BN to win handsomely in the rural seats.
"The well-known factor is 'cash is king'," he had said.
"That was the main factor, because the money went down on the night before the election and on the early morning of the voting.
"That swung (the votes) around, that was the deciding factor. In social media, they call this the 'killer app'," Chin had explained. -Mkini
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