Pakatan guilty of mother of all corruption, says Najib

Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak says party-friendly bloggers, who criticised the party and its leaders, should focus their energies on countering the opposition's accusations. – The Malaysian Insider pic, November 29, 2014.

Often Pakatan Rakyat’s favourite punching bag when it comes to corruption, Umno today claimed the RM100 million allegedly offered to one of its federal lawmakers by a close associate of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim proved that the opposition pact participated in the "mother of all corruption".

Referring to news reports that Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman had alleged that a businessman had offered RM100 million to bring 10 MPs from Sabah to join Pakatan Rakyat and topple the Barisan Nasional federal government in 2008, Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak said while the Malay party was accused of all sorts of things, the opposition was, in fact, worse.

"This is so that they can form a government. Isn't this the mother of all corruption?" he said when winding up the debates at the Umno general assembly.

Anifah had testified in a defamation suit brought by Anwar against him in May 2009, that the offer was made by former KFC deputy executive chairman Datuk Ishak Ismail at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur Hotel.

Without giving any names, Najib today also took a swipe at Pakatan's Kajang move, saying that it was the biggest form of nepotism when an elected representative was forced to resign just so "someone's wife" could stand.

Similarly, he said an innocent menteri besar was forced to step down just to put "someone's wife" as the new MB.

"Can you imagine if I ask the Negri Sembilan MB to quit because my wife wants to stand? Mati saya," he said, using the Malay expression for "I would be finished".

"She does not want to be MB, in fact she does not even want to be Wanita division head."

Najib said he could not understand why no one questioned the opposition despite such blatant nepotism.

He also ticked off party-friendly bloggers who criticised the party and its leaders, saying they should focus their energies on countering the opposition's accusations instead of unleashing "friendly fire" against the party.

"Go and shoot the opposition, that's how we win the war, don't find fault with each other, it's bangang," he said, using the Malay colloquial word for stupid.

The Kajang move was triggered when former Kajang assemblymen Lee Chin Cheh resigned from the state seat in March this year, triggering a by-election.

Anwar was initially slated to contest to pave the way for him to helm Selangor but that was stymied by the Court of Appeal decision that found Anwar guilty of sodomising his former aide, which left PKR settling for Anwar's wife, PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Dr Wan Azizah won the Kajang by-election and was PKR and DAP's sole choice for the MB post, a move that was resisted by conservatives leaders within ally PAS, who felt that she was not qualified.

This triggered tensions within the Islamist party as well as with its partners PKR and DAP.

On September 23, the Selangor Sultan appointed PKR deputy president Azmin Ali as the MB, ending the imbroglio that had dogged the state for months.

- TMI