UMNO : Stakeholders, Proxies & Money Politics.

Who are these people who are stakeholders for UMNO’s wealth? Proxies for UMNO’s business undertakings? Keepers of UMNO’s purses? I must confess that in all my years in KL I have yet to meet anyone who has identified himself or herself to me as being one of these individuals. I know of Malays who have become exceedingly wealthy because they are given contracts by the Barisan Nasional government. They secure these contracts mainly by giving bribes to UMNO politicians. They bribe to be pre qualified for the closed tenders, they bribe JKR to evaluate their submission favorably and if the tender needs cabinet approval, they bribe people in cabinet to approve their bid. All these are bribes given to individuals. Not to JKR or to UMNO but to individuals who work in JKR and to those in Cabinets who are UMNO members.

In as far as JKR are concern we can understand that the money given to these individuals working there is purely and simply a bribe.

Now how does UMNO becomes rich with the bribe we give to those in cabinet or to the political appointees in the various government ministries? I think the simple answer is this.

UMNO does not get rich with the bribes we give. The individuals we give the bribes are the one who keeps the money. What do they do with the bribes we give them?

First and foremost they take for themselves what they need…to pay for their living expenses, cars, holidays and to those who are so inclined, wine, women and song….…not necessarily in that order……and maybe bit more to put aside for rainy day….or another wife! 

Once that is all taken care of they will look at what they need to do to maintain their seat of power that allows them to take these bribes. Of course numero uno is his lord and master – his Minister. He will either give outright cash to the minister or take care of expenses incurred by his minister.

Then he has to make sure that the people around him and around his Minister are well fed. These people determine his political future i.e. vote for him at the UMNO election. These people are taken care on a monthly basis,on a one off basis or on a need basis. To do this well he will need not only large amount of money but he has to make sure that the money never dries up.

So the more bribes given the happier the members within UMNO will be. This gives the impression that UMNO is strong politically because it can take care of its own. 

So we can all see the need for money politics in UMNO. What happens if this source of money dries up? Then UMNO ceases to function. So my friends can you see UMNO killing itself? Can you see money politics, the life blood for UMNO, being taken out of UMNO? Is UMNO stupid enough to commit Hari Kiri? 

For anyone to commit Hari Kiri they must first understand what honor is. This is something UMNO does not have! So brace ourself for UMNO and money politics to be around for a long time. Where there is Abbot there is Costello. Where there is Laurel there will be Hardy....and you know what comes next! Where there is UMNO there will be money politics.