Do cash and handouts win elections?

QUESTION TIME | I have always wondered about cash and handouts winning elections.

The opposition, in particular, has been rather vocal, at least privately, about how BN has a lot of money and they use it to win elections. When I ask them why don’t the public just take the money and gifts and then vote for the opposition anyway, the answer is unsatisfactory.

Oh, they have taken the money/gifts and therefore feel at least a moral obligation to vote for BN, the answer comes back. One opposition leader even went so far as to say that “We too need to do this, distribute rice, etc, to win the elections”.

Really? Is there such honour among those who take bribes when they have committed an illegal act by accepting gratification in return for an agreement to vote BN in the first place, that they will vote BN at the end of the day?

Don’t they realise that it’s their own money that is being given back to them? Surely it can’t all be true that bribes are necessary to get votes. And even if it were, it is abominable and a downright wrong way of getting votes. Does the opposition propose vote-buying too?

It is, of course, true that the incumbent government is in a better position to offer goodies during the current elections in what is quite a blatant, flagrant violation of the Election Offences Act whose enforcement historically has been rather lax by the courts.

But increasingly, while the opposition in the past could hold the high moral ground, their incumbency in state governments has resulted in them descending to the same low level as the federal incumbents, handing out gifts and cash from the state government quite openly and conspicuously.

Witness, Azmin Ali, the caretaker Selangor menteri besar. Malaysiakini was there at two out of four events Azmin had for aid distribution scheduled on Sunday, which were part of various state government initiatives.

In those two events in Ukay Perdana and Kampung Kerdas, the amount of aid distributedtotalled close to RM1 million. For youths, Azmin handed cheques worth RM44,000 as student aid, as well as 14 laptops.

The caretaker menteri besar also gave six laptops to village chiefs as part of the state government's Peduli Rakyat initiative, Malaysiakini reported.

Yes, BN routinely does this as well and has announced numerous cash awards and other incentives to voters after the general election date has been set but that does not mean what Azmin does is right and proper.

Nine offences

The Election Offences Act provides very broad definitions of what constitutes bribery but since a long way back, it has prescribed a very high burden of proof for the offences as this article by former law professor and current practising lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijhar says.

Gurdial says: “For example, after the 1978 elections an election petition was filed to set aside the election of the BN candidate Lim Kean Siew (a former Socialist Front party stalwart). On the basis of the then finance minister Tengku Razaleigh's promise to personally give more money to improve the constituency if BN was elected.

“The court accepted that he did not say this. Interestingly, the court said that even if the statement was made, it was a mere political promise to develop the area. And therefore not a corrupt practice.”

Note that even as far back as then in 1978, when Hussein Onn was prime minister the court seemed more inclined to rule in favour of the ruling party when it came to election matters despite broad laws available to curb what in everyday terms seems outright bribery.

Note that current caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak said in Penang recently that they (Penangites) would get "nothing" but continue to be hit floods and other mismanagement issues if they continue to support the opposition, a clear indication that such campaigning will continue.

The sad part is the opposition has also now joined in to effectively engage in a free-for-all as everyone, including the legal system, ignores this violation of the substance and spirit of the Election Offences Act which would have kept abuses in check.

Azmin’s office maintains that the aid was not due to elections which will be pretty much what the federal incumbents will say as well.

Money politics will continue unabated even if they may be illegal, the difference being the opposition will likely not challenge this anymore in the courts because they themselves are engaged in it.

In Section 10, the Election Offences Act lists nine offences for giving and receiving bribes in rather legalistic terms which cover just about anything under the sun and which even faintly smacks of giving any kind of inducement, however small, in return for votes. But in practice, they turn out to be not bribes because of that court ruling.

For example, Section 10a makes this an instance of bribery if:

“Every person who, before, during or after an election, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, gives, lends, or agrees to give or lend, or offers, promises, or promises to procure or to endeavour to procure, any money or valuable consideration to or for any elector or voter, or to or for any person on behalf of any elector or voter or to or for any other person, in order to induce any elector or voter to vote or refrain from voting, or corruptly does any such act as aforesaid on account of such elector or voter having voted or refrained from voting at any election.”

Legal position aside, do cash and handouts win elections? Difficult to say for sure because it is very easy for people to accept bribes and then vote the other way. But it does become a convenient excuse for the opposition when they lose.

However, if the opposition wants to hold the moral high ground, they must not only vigorously oppose money politics but refrain from it clearly and unambiguously so that they don’t get tainted or painted by the same brush.

Already it has lost a lot of area in terms of principled behaviour by being pretty unclear in some respects.

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P GUNASEGARAM says clarity always provides better vision going forward. E-mail him at - t.p.guna@gmail.com. - Mkini