Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Yong Teck Lee Friday (20 June) said he was a senatorship and an envoy’s post by the Prime Minister's Department on Tuesday (17 June), a day before he declared that the party had lost confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The former chief minister said he regarded the offer as "political bribery" to stop him from voicing out issues related to Sabah, Bernama reported.
"The offer was delivered to me through the chief minister. He (the chief minister) said that if I agree, the prime minister would make the announcement.
"I said I'm going to reject it even if the announcement is made... so it won't be nice," he told reporters in Kota Kinabalu.
Yong was asked to comment on a statement by Abdullah yesterday that he had offered the two posts to the SAPP president.
"There is nothing personal but I'm surprise when he (the prime minister) mentioned about personal greed... I've never asked for personal things from the prime minister.
"The senatorship is suggested by the chief minister. I said, fine but I rather not accept it because people would see it as an attempt to shut me up. So it's not true that I had personal greed.
"I also said that if it is true, let other SAPP leaders who are qualified (to be offered the posts)," he said.
He also questioned what he said was the "perfect timing" for a corruption case to surface. Its is an attempt to cultivate a climate of fear," he told reporters after chairing the SAPP supreme council meeting.
The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) said today it was investigating Yong over an alleged bribery case involving RM5 million when he was the chief minister in 1996.
This was following a revelation in the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday that Yong had ordered the payment of over RM5 million profit from the sale of shares belonging to a state-owned company to his selected agents in 1996.
Yong said: "In this particular investigation, the ACA had taken my statements four or five years ago. I don't know how many hours I was at the ACA office, don't tell me it has suddenly resurfaced Saturday (21 June).
"The timing is perfect," he said.
MySinchew
21/06/08
PEOPLE'S POWER
There is a difference between UMNO and Barisan Nasional. I want to make it clear that it is not the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, but the UMNO government. It is not the government, but UMNO. Barisan Nasional is a coalition of unequals, not equals. UMNO is the big brother in BN. Therefore UMNO must be held responsible; and more importantly, UMNO must not be allowed to hide behind the BN banner. UMNO is the enemy, not BN.
ReplyDeleteI have come to the conclusion that the easy solution is to completely defeat UMNO in the next elections.
In the 2004 elections (11th General Election), the voters gave good support to Mr.Abdullah Badawi. But reforms did not come. Why? Probably because UMNO had done well in the elections. If UMNO had done well in the elections, then the election results tell UMNO that the voters are satisfied with the status quo. If the voters are satisfied with UMNO, then no reforms are necessary. In the 2008 elections (12th General Elections), UMNO did not do well, but she managed to win. UMNO did lose the 2/3 majority in the Parliament, but she did win, nevertheless. Will UMNO undertake reforms now? I would not be surprised if she did not. Why should she? UMNO is still the winner in the elections; and she can plan to rise and may even succeed to rise again. So, as long as she wins, she will never undertake the reforms. So, how do the voters get the reforms that they need? The voters will get the reforms when UMNO is completely defeated in the 13th General Elections. If UMNO wins zero seats in the next elections (13th General Elections), then some other party would have to rule Malaysia. Let us call it Party B. If UMNO is completely defeated in the next elections (13th General Elections), then Party B would rule Malaysia. Would Party B undertake reforms? If Party B does not undertake reforms, then voters would know what to do.
There is no doubt that UMNO has used gerrymandering to strengthen herself. If we removed gerrymandering from UMNO, then there would be a reduced UMNO. So the non-UMNO voters of Malaysia have good reasons to vote against UMNO.
It is possible that UMNO has used the Police Force to strengthen herself. The Police Force is required to be neutral. But is the Police Force neutral? I appeal to the Police Force to be neutral.
UMNO is a race based political party and also the big brother of BN. So, the complete defeat of UMNO in the next elections is the only way to get reforms. The complete defeat of UMNO in the next elections is the only way to get a new beginning.
UMNO is inclined to believe that Malaysians cannot do anything if they are in any way dissatisfied. The voters, however, have to send a strong message to UMNO that the voters can do something: the voters can vote.
So, the next step for Malaysians is to completely defeat UMNO in the next elections.