ACA report against Abdullah and Najib

What is the motif of Umno youth EXCO member Mazlan Harun lodging a complaint against party president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and deputy president Najib Abdul Razak? It is an interesting question being asked by the public now.

Umno youth EXCO member Mazlan Harun today lodged a complaint against party president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and deputy president Najib Abdul Razak with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for alleged abuse of power.

The complainant, Mazlan Harun claimed that both Abdullah and Najib - who are prime minister and deputy respectively - had abused government machineries to garner support among Umno members in a bid to sustain their positions in the coming party elections.

The complaint was based on an open letter written by Umno Petaling Jaya Selatan division chief Zahar Hashim and addressed to the party’s secretary-general, demanding that both Abdullah and Najib be disciplined for allegedly abusing their power.

In a blog that published the letter, the Umno president and his deputy were accused of using a government agency under the Information Ministry called the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) as their party campaigning platform.

"Abdullah met with Umno leaders through Jasa in Kuala Lumpur and gave them money and kain pelikat (sarong) or batik while providing them with four-star hotel accommodation as well as entertainment," read the blog.

Zahar said a memo dated July 8 - issued by the Umno headquarters in Kuala Lumpur - had invited all Umno division, branch, Putera, Wanita and Puteri wing leaders nationwide to attend a closed door briefing on July 10 at the party headquarters.

At that briefing, Zahar in his letter accused Abdullah and Najib of explicitly campaigning for them in view of defending their number one and number two positions respectively at the party polls scheduled for December this year.

The content of their speeches clearly reflected abuse of power and were intended at persuading division leaders (to support their party positions)," Zahar said in the letter.

According to Zahar, holding gatherings and giving out ‘pocket money’ to party members are clear violations of party guidelines and both the president and deputy president are not exceptions to the rule.

He said both Abdullah and Najib went against guidelines, which they themselves had helped compile. "Is this what they mean by leadership by example?" asked Zahar.

The letter also slammed the planned handover of power by Abdullah to Najib in two years time as a ‘political bribery of the highest order’ though it did not specify why such a move was considered a form of political bribery.