» Scene: Naab Restaurant, KL
MOHAN: Azman, it seems money politics is really rampant in Umno. It somehow seems to have grown and grown into a huge hydra. And the attitude now is "if you can’t beat them, you join them."
Chong: Nowadays, people are openly talking about it.
Mohan: And openly doing it too.
Chong: It is a Malaysian phenomenon.
Zain: It exists elsewhere too but they call it vote-buying or plain bribery. Call it by whatever name it is still corrupt practice. It seems to me it is only in Malaysia that this practice is referred to as money politics.
Mohan: Not in Malaysia, but only in Umno. Which means that Umno politics is all about money. Which means you infl uence people not with your argument or your speeches but with money.
Chong: Convincing people through debates is a waste of time. Just give money. No need to prepare speeches, no need to rehearse them.
Mohan: No sore throats.
Zain: No need to exhibit your vast ignorance.
Mohan: Yes. By speaking and arguing you are exposing what you really are. Maybe you are
stupid. Maybe you are dumb. For people like that it is easier to give money.
Chong: So instead of having more people in the party who love to hear good debates you have
more and more people becoming collectors, the so-called lobbyists. They are everywhere.
Mohan: They were scolded by Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi recently. He told them to go home. You think they will listen to him Cikgu?
Zain: Not on your Nelly!
Mohan: What’s that?
Zain: It’s a cockney rhyming slang similar to not on your life.
Azman: I think it is an exaggeration. Some people are doing it to make Umno look really, really bad.
Mohan: You think so Azman?
Azman: Absolutely.
Zain: Don’t say that. To be fair you do not know for sure. Try not to use the word absolutely. Give yourself some room to be able to correct yourself with grace. Once you say absolutely you will fi nd it hard to correct yourself without losing face.
Azman: OK, Cikgu.
Zain: It exists, Azman. The Umno president has admitted it. And even Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen who heads the party disciplinary panel has admitted it.
Chong: And now all the candidates --- 84 or 85 of them --- in the party election are condemning money politics.
Mohan: Of course. You surely know that it is good politics to condemn money politics because if you don’t do it people will say you are doing it.
Chong: And they are the ones who are paying the so-called lobbyists. And so why should the lobbyists heed their president and go home when it is so lucrative to be in Kuala Lumpur where the party happenings are taking place.
Zain: These guys are brokers. I think the term lobbyists is too good for them. They don’t really do that. They just buy and sell. "Agong ada" is one code they use. It refers to the "agong" on the banknotes. As money politics becomes more entrenched the job of buying and selling has become even more lucrative. They take home a few thousand ringgit. And now that the campaign period has been extended to March you can be sure they will be very loaded by the time it is all over. So why go home.
Mohan: Not on your Nelly!
Zain: My sentiments exactly.
Chong: So in effect money politics in Umno is evolving into something of a diabolical system....
Zain: Yes, it has. That’s why those who want to win have to have large war chests. And where do you think they get the money to stuff into these chests. Just sell your country. Some people are in positions to sell more than others. Anyway, that’s another story.
Chong: The system allows those with money to reach the top. Not necessarily those with brains. Not necessarily the clever ones.
Zain: Some can’t even speak.
Mohan: So if the clever ones or those who genuinely want to serve want to reach the top they have no choice but to do so via the system. Isn’t that right Cikgu?
Zain: Yes. And that’s why many bright ones don’t want to waste their time with Umno even if they know it is a good party. But in the first place it is not easy for the bright guys to become members. Their application forms can languish in some fi le or other for ages.
Azman: What a huge task awaits Datuk Seri Najib Razak when he becomes president. He really has to clean up the party. Otherwise that’s it for Umno.
Zain: It is a no mean task. It is like Hercules being told to clean up in one day the Augean stables which had not been cleaned for years. Hercules was able to do it because he was a god.
