DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has questioned whether the MACC dares to investigate Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin after Tebrau MP Steven Choong admitted that he was promised an official position for throwing his support behind the prime minister.
"Choong, who defected from PKR to support Muhyiddin, finally admitted that Muhyiddin promised him an official position that would provide him with a platform to rebuild the nation's economy.
"Is this not an inducement for Choong to jump?" Lim asked in a statement today.
On Feb 28, Choong and Julau MP Larry Sng quit PKR to support Muhyiddin as independent MPs.
With the duo's support, Perikatan Nasional has regained its simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat with 111 MPs.
Lim also reminded that Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had previously revealed that he had rejected an offer from Muhyiddin to be Petronas chairperson.
"Will the MACC demonstrate its independence, impartiality, professionalism and adherence to the rule of law by investigating the prime minister?
"At the very least, MACC should openly state that party hopping due to money politics or in exchange for favours is an illegal and a corrupt practice," the former finance minister said.
Ironically, he said, Muhyiddin has made fighting corruption one of his key commitments in government but the reality does not support the prime minister's rhetoric.
Lim pointed out that Malaysia dropped six ranks to 57th position in the 2020 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report.
"Clearly, the lack of emphasis towards open tenders and transparency, the appointment of politicians to replace professionals in GLCs in exchange for political support, withdrawal of criminal charges against political leaders favouring the PN government, using government positions to buy political support as well as selective investigation and prosecution of politicians were identified as primary causes.
"As MACC appears indifferent to the drop in Malaysia's ranking in the CPI, it will not be surprising if Malaysia's CPI ranking further declines this year," he said.
'Questions will arise'
In a separate statement, PKR Youth chief Akmal Nasir also questioned the appointment of Arau MP Shahidan Kassim as the new chairperson of Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia (PR1MA).
“This appointment is not shocking at all and it is not new because a check on the PR1MA website shows that his name had already been updated as the PR1MA chairperson since last month.
“Of course questions will arise under what capacity he was appointed when there are so many talented professionals with wide-ranging experience and can confidently take PR1MA out of its problems,” Akmal, who is also Johor Bahru MP, said in a statement today.
It has been three years since Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin was appointed as the housing and local government minister, he said, yet the PR1MA scheme still appeared to be beleaguered with problems.
For example, he said, in October 2019, the minister claimed that 56 phases of development projects worth RM9.98 billion under PR1MA had been cancelled, yet in December 2020, she said the number of projects cancelled was 32.
In Johor, he added, there were supposed to be PR1MA houses in Tebrau for which the keys should have been handed over in 2018 but until now, that has yet to happen as the project completion date has been postponed several times.
“I urge the minister to immediately reveal the list of every developer and the compensation costs that had to be paid to them for the 32 projects which were cancelled, a list of projects which had their completion dates postponed and a list of late and abandoned projects.
“I also urge for the rakyat, who had to bear losses due to the delays in building PR1MA houses, to be given a set amount of compensation too and not just the developers being taken care of,” he said. - Mkini
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