SUNDAY-22ND JUNE 2008-CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: MAHATHIR WARNS OF CONSEQUENCES OVER ARTICLE 121-A3

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: MAHATHIR WARNS OF CONSEQUENCES OVER ARTICLE 121-A3

WHAT POLITICAL BRIBERY? Musa denies Yong’s claim over offer of Senator post

SANDAKAN:
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has denied an allegation by Sabah Progressive Party “political bribery”.
“The matter was discussed by us much earlier. When he was not picked to be a candidate in the last general election, I was ask the Prime Minister as the Barisan Nasional (BN) Chairman, to give a Senator post to Yong as SAPP President.
“The post was agreed upon by Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi much earlier … so, it was not a political bribery or to shut up his mouth,” Musa told reporters yesterday after launching the State-level Youth Month and Day program here.
Musa, who is Sabah BN Chairman, was asked to comment on Yong’s statement on Friday that he considered the Senator post and the post of Special Envoy for the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) as “political bribery” so as not to voice out issues regarding Sabah.
Yong had said this when asked to comment on Abdullah’s statement on Thursday that he had offered the post of Senator and BIMP-EAGA Special Envoy to the SAPP President.
According to Yong, on June 17, just a day before he announced SAPP’s intention to table a motion of no-confidence against Abdullah, he received a confidential letter from the Cabinet Division of the Prime Minister’s Department. He declined to reveal its contents to reporters, saying it was confidential.
On the SAPP Supreme Council’s decision that a motion of no-confidence be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday, Musa said the decision was not made unanimously as there were objections by several leaders and Party members.
According to him, there were differences between Yong and his Deputy, Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah, SAPP Youth Chief Au Kam Wah and Vice-President Jimmy Wong.
“Raymond Tan told me that in the SAPP Supreme Council Meeting, he, Au, Jimmy Wong and several leaders did not agree with the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister as put forward by Yong.
“There were differences and opposition among them, and this shows that there was no unanimity among the SAPP Supreme Council Members.
“So, this is a very unfortunate as it is clear that not all SAPP leaders and members agree with the Party President’s action and it shows clearly that is was done for self-interest,” Musa said.
He believes Raymond would continue to support the BN leadership, especially that of Abdullah, adding that he was leaving it to the BN leadership to take any action against Yong or SAPP.
“As I understand it, if both the SAPP Members of Parliament (Datuk Eric Majimbun and Datuk Dr Chua Soon Boi) table a motion of no-confidence, action will be taken against them,” Musa said.
On SAPP itself, he said not all SAPP leaders agree on the motion.
According to him, it was due to this factor that the BN leadership did not take any drastic action on the Party as the leadership knew earlier on that not all SAPP leaders and members agreed with their President’s action. – Bernama