MAHATHIR MUST BE CHECKED – PAKATAN & ANWAR MUST BAN HIM FROM PICKING HIS OWN SUCCESSOR: IMAGINE THE TYPE OF 8TH PM HE WILL PICK – PERHAPS NAJIB’S COUSIN HISHAM OR ‘SNEAKY’ AZMIN – IF HE CAN APPOINT SOMEONE WHO OPENLY TOUTS CORRUPTION LIKE RASHID AS ERC CHAIRMAN

KUALA LUMPUR – Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman should be removed from heading the committee following his call for government contracts to be given to division chiefs.

MCA vice-president Senator Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker said Pakatan Harapan (PH) must practices good politics by calling for immediate presidential council meeting to repudiate or dissociate Rashid’s statement.

“Rashid must be sacked or removed from heading ERC, in line with DAP’s supreme leader Lim Kit Siang’s persistency in targeting enablers of kleptocracy,” he said in a statement today.

Ti was commenting on Rashid’s winding up speech during Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s second annual general assembly on Sunday.

Rashid, who is Bersatu vice-president and former chairman of the Election Commission, has called for the functions of the Federal Development Department (JPP) to be reinstated for the benefit of the party’s division and branch chiefs nationwide.

MCA vice-president Senator Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker. Pic by NSTP/ASYRAF HAMZAH

Ti said what Rashid had said was tantamount to a political endorsement that the party will use government resources and political patronage to stay in power.

“This is in direct contrast with the promises made to the rakyat who have voted out the Barisan Nasional government on allegations of such practices.”

Ti also said it was absurd to think that a call by Rashid during the annual general assembly would set the agenda for a Cabinet level discussion.

“The Cabinet should be discussing national issues and the bigger agenda of our economic collapse since PH government had taken over.”

He said the government also should report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) any misconduct for an immediate action. — NST

Bersatu division says not to misinterpret chief’s speech asking for contracts

Bandar Tun Razak Bersatu said today that it hoped its chief Mohd Shahni Ismail’s speech at the party annual general assembly – where he had, among others, called for government resources to be used for party purposes – would not be misinterpreted.

“I hope none would misinterpret what happened between party members, as no good can come out of misinterpreting the debate motion brought by the Federal Territories Bersatu information chief, who is also the Bandar Tun Razak Bersatu chief,” the division said in a statement.

The statement was issued by Bandar Tun Razak Bersatu information chief Ahmad Bastari Muslim.

Ahmad Bastari also defended Shahni’s speech, saying: “His statement was consistent with the sustainability of the party.

“His statement was not opportunistic in nature, but was merely thinking about political survival in this millennium,” he said.

‘Democracy being maintained’

Ahmad Bastari also noted that the speech had captured the Bersatu leadership’s attention, including criticisms.

“However, in the art of new politics, views can be aired openly, and it is evidence that democracy is being maintained and the mindset those struggling for Bersatu are changing,” he said.

During the Bersatu annual general assembly on Sunday, Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman singled out the Federal Territories Bersatu representative for demanding government contracts and positions, and for claiming that he had been promised these by a minister.

An exasperated Syed Saddiq slammed the delegate and warned that this could court the attention of the MACC.

Shortly after Syed Saddiq’s speech, Bersatu vice-president Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, in a veiled jab, said that the view that the party should avoid using government resources to retain power was “stupid.”

However, Bersatu Youth leaders later came out to denounce Rashid and defend Syed Saddiq’s position.

Bersatu division leaders who were slighted by Syed Saddiq’s criticism have since discussed his ouster.

– M’kini