Money politics rearing its head in PPBM, says official

PPBM Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman is said to have come under fire from division chiefs eager for projects and contracts.

PETALING JAYA: A high-ranking PPBM official says a “loud minority” of division leaders in the party want Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman ousted following his statement against members who demand contracts and concessions.

The official told FMT these leaders were rude, crude and desperate for projects, contracts and concessions on the pretext of sustaining division activities.

“These division chiefs are no different from the Umno warlords,” he said, adding that it was “money politics all over again”.

According to the official, Syed Saddiq along with several other PPBM leaders were trying to protect the party from the division chiefs whom he alleged were seeking funds for the party election.

“The campaigning has already started. These division chiefs feel they may be out-voted in the party election, so it is now or never,” he added.

He also claimed they were campaigning against the “one member, one vote” system as they knew they would be “kicked out”.

“These division chiefs just want to cash in on their ‘perjuangan’ (struggles), these are the greedy ones from the Umno era,” he said.

He added that the public would be “shocked” if they saw the ramblings of these individuals in their WhatsApp group.

“It is sad but true, and people may be cheated by the behaviour of some of these loud minority division chiefs,” he said.

Meanwhile, a PPBM division leader in Kuala Lumpur said the Bandar Tun Razak and Bukit Bintang divisions had called for a boycott of the PPBM Youth wing.

“Syed Saddiq has to understand why the old-timers want projects. When they left Umno, they made a lot of sacrifices.

“They lost projects, jobs and money. Now they need to fork out their own money even for chairs at their service centres,” he said.

He criticised Syed Saddiq for raising the issue at the party’s annual general meeting, saying this should have been done behind closed doors.

He also said he and others would resign from their division positions as they were part of the national youth set-up.

At the annual general meeting, which ended on Sunday, Syed Saddiq warned party members against the culture of seeking business contracts and positions.

He also reprimanded several representatives who had often raised these issues. - FMT