The Rantau By-Election Will Be All About Bread-And-Butter Issues

Yes, PKR and Pakatan Harapan will need to explain many things to the voters in Rantau. And the RM90 million and RM1.4 million stories are not what the Rantau voters want to hear about. They want to hear about what is happening to Malaysia and what is their future going to be like under a Pakatan Harapan government.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Now that the Rantau by-election campaign has started, PKR and Pakatan Harapan are going to go all out to try to convince the Malay voters that former prime minister Najib Tun Razak did, in fact, pay Abdul Hadi Awang and a number of PAS leaders RM90 million and that Rameli Musa paid Clare Rewcastle Brown RM1.4 million to settle the case out of court.

They will say that Hadi begged Clare to settle the case out of court because the allegation is true and if this case continues then the court hearing will reveal that Najib did pay Hadi and a number of others RM90 million. If what Clare alleged is false, then why settle the case out of court?

Many cases have been settled out of court over just the last five years alone. In fact, more cases have been settled out of court than those that have proceeded till the end. And it has nothing to do with guilt or innocence but due to cost.

Over the last three years, I have had to spend about RM60,000 merely replying to letters from lawyers or from those who threatened to sue me (take the Jack Ma matter as the latest example of a ‘legal matter’ I faced). And that is just the letter-writing stage, not yet the going to court stage.

Just the letter-writing stage alone cost me RM60,000 before even any filing in court was done

If the matter goes to court, it is estimated to cost me about RM8 million to RM10 million (which is what Hadi would need to pay as well). And if you lose you will need to pay costs to the other side as well (so your RM8-10 million legal cost will double).

It is easy for people to say if you are innocent or if you are telling the truth why withdraw or why settle out of court when these people are not the ones paying the RM8-10 million legal costs. When the money comes from your pocket, you will not be so gung-ho to engage in court cases. And this is why it was prudent for Hadi to agree to the out-of-court settlement rather than waste RM8-10 million.

It must be noted that Clare first approached Hadi to propose an out-of-court settlement in early 2018 before GE14. Hadi said no. On the second time Clare approached Hadi in early 2019, Hadi agreed to settle the matter out of court since GE14 was already over.

It is naïve to assume that Hadi agreed to an out-of-court settlement because he is guilty of receiving RM90 million from Najib — and that if he is innocent he would not have agreed to an out-of-court settlement. But that is what PKR and Pakatan Harapan are going to tell the voters in Rantau over these next two weeks.

Rantau is a four-way contest: Umno, PKR, Amanah and independent

PKR and Pakatan Harapan are also going to tell the voters in Rantau that it was Hadi who begged Clare to settle the case out of court and not Clare who begged Hadi to settle the case out of court. This is to give the impression that Hadi is scared of going to court because he is guilty of receiving RM90 million from Najib.

And the ‘proof’ that Hadi is guilty would be the RM1.4 million out-of-court settlement cost that Rameli Musa paid Clare. And they are also going to tell the Rantau voters that it was Hadi who asked Rameli to pay Clare RM1.4 million.

Actually, this debate can easily be settled with Clare just publishing the evidence she said she possesses. She said she has the evidence that Najib paid Hadi RM90 million and yet she refuses to show us that evidence. Why?

If this is the best PKR and Pakatan Harapan have as campaign material for the Rantau by-election then they are really in trouble. The Rantau voters do not care about the RM90 million or the RM1.4 million. All that means nothing to them. In fact, many already know the RM90 million and the RM1.4 million stories are lies anyway.

Anwar Ibrahim needs for PKR to win the Rantau by-election if he want to take over as Prime Minister

The only thing that matters to the Rantau voters are bread-and-butter issues. Whether Hadi received RM90 million from Najib and whether Hadi instructed Rameli to pay Clare RM1.4 million is not going to put food on the table. This is what PKR and Pakatan Harapan need to convince the Rantau voters, that they will have food on the table.

PKR and Pakatan Harapan will need to explain why the election promises cannot be met.

PKR and Pakatan Harapan will need to explain what happened to RM20 billion Tabung Haji assets and why these assets are now in the hands of non-Muslims.

PKR and Pakatan Harapan will need to explain why government funds are being given to NGOs that support LGBTs and whether this means the LGBT lifestyle is being recognised by the Pakatan Harapan government.

PKR and Pakatan Harapan will need to explain the Chinese schools and Chinese education issues plus the funding that is being channelled to Chinese schools.

PKR and Pakatan Harapan will need to explain why action is not being taken against Lim Guan Eng and a number of other DAP leaders who received bribes for the Penang Undersea Tunnel project.

Yes, PKR and Pakatan Harapan will need to explain many things to the voters in Rantau. And the RM90 million and RM1.4 million stories are not what the Rantau voters want to hear about. They want to hear about what is happening to Malaysia and what is their future going to be like under a Pakatan Harapan government.

THE RANTAU BE-ELECTION WILL BE ALL ABOUT BREAD-AND-BUTTER ISSUES