Barely 48 hours after it was reported last Saturday (Feb 22) that former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had collapsed in his residence and was hospitalised, a more shocking “revelation” rocked the nation!
This was after news broke out that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had seized a huge cache of money stashed in the home of a suspect said to be a former senior aide to the ill ex-PM; the money believed to be “political funds” was reportedly found kept in multiple bags and safes in several rooms and believed to be more than a whopping RM170 million!!
Needless to say, the timing of the raid and the humongous sum involved would have raised questions whether another ill-fated “Sheraton Move” may have actually been on the cards.
To add fuel to fire, another news website had also reported on rumours about a “backdoor” plan to take over Putrajaya with the Bera MP allegedly spearheading it with Bersatu deputy president Hamzah Zainudin and PAS vice-president Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar as his deputies.
This latest exposé would have turned the spotlight back to Anwar Ibrahim and his neverending war against the “rebels” from both within and outside UMNO who can’t seem to accept the fact that the once dominant party was now part of the PH-led unity government.
Interestingly, in a scathing judgement on the nationalist party, an observer Tuan Muda had articulated in a reputable news website recently as to how for decades the Malay party had thrived, fueled by a financial empire that was built on state plunder and corporate cronyism – but which was now like a dying beast, and on whose throat PMX literally had his boot on!
But how accurate was that crude observation?
The writer had added: Anwar is actually dismantling Umno brick by brick, choking its cash, crushing its legacy, and suppressing its loudmouth young guns, with the goal to ensure that no flicker of resurgence survives, not from the Mahathir-Daim crypt, not from Najib’s jail cell – and certainly not from Dr Akmal Saleh’s circus!
According to him, UMNO’s lifeblood has always been money – billions churned through a patronage mill that Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Daim Zainuddin perfected in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Was “privatization” really progress… or was it actually a heist?
He went on to claim that companies like UEM and Renong, tethered to Daim’s genius, raked in infrastructure deals – highways, towers, power plants – while (unashamedly) siphoning profits back into Umno’s war chest.
While more recently, the party’s current president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, allegedly dipped into RM31 million from Yayasan Akalbudi, a charity turned personal ATM!
In dealing with UMNO, Anwar’s weapon is simple: cut the cash!
Meanwhile, according to the writer, though younger Umno leaders like Dr. Akmal Saleh, and other right wing hardliners may bark racial rhetoric and Malay supremacy they may be nothing more than “loonies”, thriving on chaos where Umno’s old money once ruled.
The writer further asserted that Anwar was not flinching although these “brats” may threaten his “Reformasi” vision; after all, he just had to freeze the party’s funds, sideline their platforms, and let PKR’s grassroots outmuscle them.
In closing, he cautioned that Anwar’s playbook can be ruthless: with MACC raids and other tactics, the endgame was to bankrupt UMNO’s finances, and bury its “young turks” and disgrace its “old guard!”
Disgrace its old guard…?
Which brings us back to the unfortunate Ismail Sabri and the millions in cash found in the home of his former senior aide, as he lay helpless in the hospital, seemingly unable to defend himself against all the swirling allegations.
Now, the burning question on the lips of many would be: was the recent MACC action against the parties, linked to the ex-PM, part of a move by PMX to foil a “rumoured” coup against his two-year-old administration?
Political funds… or slush funds?
In conclusion, true, it may seem far-fetched to believe that the Madani government could fall so easily given the improving economic scenario and the reforms being implemented, albeit at a snail’s pace – and further bolstered by the anti-party hopping law already firmly in place.
Yet, like it or not, the fact remains that to many, the discovery of such a huge stockpile of cash allegedly running into more than RM177 mil may only point to one of two purposes, either it was intended to be used in elections to bribe voters – or that it was to be used to buy over MPs and state assemblymen!
Source : Newswav
The Coverage Malaysia
