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news without borders
Rithauddeen: Money
politics worsening
by Giam Say Khoon
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno disci-
plinary board chairman Tengku
Ahmad Rithauddeen Tengku
Ismail said yesterday money
politics has worsened to such
an extent that it has become
difficult to eradicate.
“I feel embarrassed to see
that other (Barisan Nasional)
component parties like MCA and
Gerakan actually have less such
problems to worry about.”
Urging members to adopt
honesty to curb the menace,
Rithauddeen said the culture of
money politics was around 20
years ago when he first joined
the party.
“The members are happy
when there are more contest-
ants participating in the party
election as they will have the op-
portunity to make more money,”
he told a press conference.
Rithauddeen admitted the
board is having difficulty gathering
information for its investigation
because complainants are afraid
to come forward.
“It is difficult for us to get com-
plaints from members because
they are paid to shut up. We will
not disclose the identity of the
whistle-blowers as we must get
rid of the money politics, which is
like a cancer destroying the party
and the country.”
To a question, Rithauddeen
said he believed that the long
campaigning period (for the
party election, which has been
deferred to March) may encour-
age money politics.
Asked whether the disci-
plinary board will act on the
statement by Umno Supreme
Council member Datuk Seri Dr
Rais Yatim that some divisions
actually asked for “donations”
from the candidates in exchange
for support in the party election,
Rithauddeen said the board can-
not act simply based on state-
ments as there was no official
complaint lodged.
On the proposal by Rais, who
is vying for the vice-president’s
post, to have an open tender
format for the party’s top post
so that those with the highest
bid can be the leaders, Rithaud-
deen said he did not think such a
proposal can work as “we must
choose good leaders who really
can lead the country and there
is no provision in the party con-
stitution to allow open tender for
top posts.
“I do not know whether
he (Rais) was joking and how
serious he was in proposing
this idea but there is no way we
should do it via open tender.”
He also announced that two
party members, Isang Rawai of
Kota Marudu and Shamsuddin
Dawam of Ledang division, had
violated the party laws and
the board will recommend to
the supreme council that their
membership be terminated.
“Isang was found guilty as he
contested in the last general elec-
tion as an independent candidate
and Shamsuddin was found guilty
as he had contested in the general
election under the PAS banner,
which we deemed as dishonesty
to the party and unacceptable.”
The board also issued warn-
ings to Datuk Ishak Ismail of Ser-
emban division; Datuk Mustaffar
Kamal Abdul Hamid and Datuk
Abdullah Abu Bakar of Raub
division; Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rah-
man, Datuk Yunus Kurus and Alias
Hussin of Labuan division as they
violated the party constitution
and members’ code of ethics.
Reading marathon ...
SK Putrajaya pupils take part in a reading marathon, called read-a-thon, yesterday as part of
the “Read 2008: One Nation Reading Together” campaign to celebrate the importance and joys
of reading. Event organiser Scholastic, a publisher of children’s books, has pledged to donate
a book to a less-privileged child for every person who took part. There were more than 29,000
read-a-thon participants nationwide.
Look beyond race,
says Najib
by Tim Leonard
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak yester-
day said the time has come for Umno leaders to
conduct themselves in a way that they appeal to
a wider audience if they want to stay in power.
The deputy prime minister and Umno number
two, who is going for the party top post at the
March elections, admitted that Umno leaders
tended to look only at members of Umno.
He said this in response to a statement by
former deputy premier Tun Musa Hitam that
Umno is “too introvert” and needs young blood
with new ideas to bring the party forward.
“The time has come for us to look beyond ...
if you want to stay in power, you have to look not
only at Umno members but also at non-Umno
members and non-Malays,” Najib said.
He said in due time, the party will be led by
new blood with new ideas as it was only a natural
progression. He also said that holding a post in
Umno was not “the end of it all”. “It’s just the
beginning of your responsibility,” he said.
On Wednesday, Musa said Umno which is
61 years old is suffering from penyakit tua (old-
age sickness) and can be remedied by only the
younger generation with new ideas. He ticked
off Umno as being “too introverted” by focusing
on its own problems. Musa, who served as DPM
12 Hindraf supporters arrested
by Charles Ramendran
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PUTRAJAYA: The wife, six-year-old daughter
and 10 supporters of Hindu Rights Action Force
(Hindraf) leader P. Waythamoorthy, who is in
self-exile in Britain, were detained by police
when they tried to hand over a memorandum
at the Prime Minister’s Department yesterday.
The 12 supporters of outlawed group had
gone to the prime minister’s office to present a
memorandum seeking the release of all Internal
Security Act detainees at 3.30pm.
S. Jayathas, who was among those detained
and was contacted by theSun an hour after the
incident, said the memorandum was being read
out during the gathering when police arrived
Strong banking system, confidence our priorities: PM
BEIJING: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ah-
mad Badawi said Malaysia must ensure that its
banking sector remains strong and also create
confidence in the people that the government
is managing the economy well amid the global
uncertainties.
“The banking sector has remained strong ...
the most important is to create confidence in our
people that we can manage well, that is what we
are doing and they can see,” he told newsmen
when asked on his priorities for the economy
after launching the Beijing representative office
of Khazanah Nasional, the country’s sovereign
theSun | FRIDAY OCTOBER 24 2008
under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, added that
Umno had lost its popularity because of public
opinion.
On Tuesday, Umno vice-president Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin had called for the format of
Barisan Nasional (BN) to be revamped to make
component parties officially work together in
serving communities across the racial divide.
Meanwhile, on another note, Najib said the
party leadership had given the responsibility to
the Umno disciplinary board to take stern action
against those guilty of money politics. “We want
the board to take very stern action against those
guilty of money politics,” he said, in response to
a statement by board chairman Tengku Ahmad
Rithauddeen Tengku Ismail that the long cam-
paign period may contribute to more cases of
money politics and other offences.
Several measures to curb money politics were
expected to be announced by the party leadership
soon, Najib said after a soft launch of the Malaysia
Savings Sale 2008 at the Gardens in Mid Valley. The
sale, with mega discounts, rewards and promotion
will be held from this Nov 29 to Jan 4.
He also said tourist arrivals for the first nine
months recorded a 4.4% rise compared to the
same period last year. The figure this year stood at
16.2 million compared to 15 million last year. Last
year, Malaysia recorded tourist arrivals of 20.97
million with total spending at RM46.1 billion.
and took them to the Putrajaya police station.
N. Surendran, lawyer for Hindraf leader P.
Uthayakumar, who is being held under the
ISA, said the arrests were uncalled for as the
group were simply exercising their rights as
Malaysians.
Kuala Lumpur police chief DCP Datuk Mo-
hammad Sabtu Osman said eight men, three
women and a child were detained for repre-
senting or acting for an outlawed organisation
or group under section 48 of the Societies Act.
He said police will record a statement from
them before deciding whether to release them.
Waythamoorthy’s wife K. Shanti and their daugh-
ter were released in the evening but they refused
to leave the station without the other supporters,
who were still under detention at press time.
investment arm.
He said there is no systemic risk in the coun-
try’s banking and the government had taken
immediate steps to guarantee savings deposits
to allay concerns of the people.
The prime minister, who is in the Chinese
capital to attend the two-day Asia-Europe
Meeting (Asem) summit beginning today, said
Malaysia is fortunate because of its strong
economic fundamentals that includes a well-
diversified economy and strong trade that has
chalked up surpluses for over 100 months now.
– Bernama