KUALA LUMPUR – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has vowed to continue battling corruption through Pejuang, even if it proves to be a theme Malaysians are tired of and costs his party votes.
“If the people of this country do not mind having corrupt people in the government, then they should not support anti-corruption campaigners.
“Effectively, they would be promoting corruption in the government,” the former prime minister said on his blog today.
“My party may not get support because it insists on appealing to people’s good sense to reject corruption.
“We will still fight corruption even if we are rejected.”
The Langkawi MP was commenting on a report by The Malaysian Insight, quoting analysts and voters, that said the campaign against graft and kleptocracy he headed going into the 2018 general election – which saw Pakatan Harapan, the pact he led then, ending six decades of Barisan Nasional rule – will not yield the same result in the next polls.
It may be true that Malays, in particular, are not too bothered about graft-related issues, he said, but it is key that the plague be condemned.
He said corruption is to blame for the PH government’s collapse in February and subsequent establishment of the Perikatan Nasional regime.
“We are not dealing with garden-variety bribes for an officer to expedite the approval of an application, or to approve a bad proposal. We are talking about buying over governments.
“We can have elections and determine the majority that will go on to form the government. But now, we are seeing elected governments being brought down through bribes given to some of them to switch sides.
“This was the case with the present government, and very nearly what happened to the Sabah government.”
If this continues, he said, elections would ultimately be pointless.
“Elections would be meaningless. The country would be ruled by corrupt leaders.” – The Vibes, October 5, 2020
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