Committee's decision - more questions than answers

We all know that by convention the deputy president of Umno is normally also the deputy prime minister of the country. As such, it becomes a matter of national importance who becomes Umno deputy president. Never mind if this is unfair but such is the fact of life so long as the BN remains in power.

Umno tends to agree that party elections are of national importance hence the very open nature of party dealings. Outsiders, including ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, are keenly observing how the party conducts its affairs.Perception is king in politics. The reason that the Umno disciplinary committee held a press conference to announce its findings is to give the public some knowledge about what is going on in Umno. The party believes that it needs to shake-off its image as a corrupt organisation to better its chances of winning elections.

Hence, this ‘clean-up’ exercise before the three by-elections, two in Perak (which are directly relevant to Umno's leadership position in the BN) and one in Sarawak (which is a gauge for the entire coalition's popularity).The decision to bar Mohd Ali Rustam from running for the deputy president's position because he was found guilty of money politics, or rather his agent was found guilty, is a mystery to many. Who is actually guilty?

How come when Mohd Isa Samad was found guilty, he was stripped of his governmental positions but Ali Rustam is merely stopped from contesting the deputy president's position? Can guilt be measured in different degrees or is there a different set of rules for Ali Rustam? In short, the disciplinary committee's decision raises more questions than answers.Reputations have been sullied.

This is why Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, the de facto law minister and a senior member of Umno, said in an interview that Umno members are frustrated and have lodged reports directly with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).Umno members are right and the MACC is the more appropriate organisation to investigate the issue of money politics.

Umno cannot gain any credibility if the MACC is not brought into the picture. The only problem is that anyone found guilty by the MACC loses more than just his party or governmental positions. He or she might be sent to jail.Stranger still is the disciplinary committee's decision about Khairy Jamaluddin. Is he guilty or not? If he is guilty, he is obviously not as guilty as Ali Rustam? Or did the committee measure their respective levels of guilt according to the actions of their respective ‘agents’? How did the committee measure the level of Ali Rustam or Khairy's complicity?

Anyone can claim to be an agent to smear the good names of these two men. Is there a money trail to link the agents to their bosses? If so, should not the evidence be turned over to the MACC as this is a clear case of corruption?It is unfair to both Ali Rustam and Khairy that their reputations have been sullied without a shred of evidence or the process of finding out their guilt made public.

Umno must remember that both these individuals hold public office and that one of them is even a chief minister. How is Ali Rustam able to carry out his duties with this ‘scandal’ trailing after him? Is it fair to Khairy to carry the burden of being a marked man in the upcoming Umno Youth chief elections? Okay, he is the best looking of the lot, so is this some strange way of levelling the playing field?Whilst not many are willing to give Umno the benefit of the doubt that it is trying very hard to root out money politics, the limited revelations by the disciplinary committee are not helping the party very much.

The message that Umno is sending to Malaysians now stand as - ‘There are degrees of guilt and that the party tolerates money politics to a certain degree’. Perhaps, the degree of guilt is measured according to the amount of money that changed hands? One million, you get barred, lose government position, between RM500,000 to one million, you get barred but remain in government, less that RM500,000 you get off with a warning?Either there is guilt or there isn't.

But more damaging is the tacit admittance that there are two sets of laws, one for Umno and one for the rest of us. So, if you are Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and a member of the opposition, the MACC will prosecute you with a sledgehammer. But if you are an Umno member and have been found guilty of money politics by your own party, you just get barred but can still serve as chief minister.The public should not be too hasty to pass judgement on Umno.

The MACC claims that it has yet to receive a report from the Umno disciplinary committee. But senior Umno member Kadar Shah Sulaiman said that many complaints were lodged with the MACC. The MACC must now apply the same standards to Ali Rustam and Khairy that it did with supreme council contestant Norza Zakaria. The Umno disciplinary committee should also make up its mind.

How can these be ‘crimes of ethics’ if ‘cold hard cash’ had changed hands? Nazri is correct when he suggested that the MACC should be the main investigative body as corruption has gone ‘underground’. Surprisingly, the disciplinary committee, having gone deep underground, has surfaced with incriminating evidence. But these findings put Umno into a new conundrum.

What happens if the MACC clears both Ali Rustam and Khairy? Has the disciplinary committee damaged the careers and good names of the two for nothing? On the other hand, if the MACC finds them guilty according to the Umno disciplinary committee’s own set of evidence, then they might both go to jail. Can Ali Rustam continue being chief minister from jail?Umno has to rectify the situation quickly.

Either there is guilt or there isn't. If there is guilt then let the law take its course. All this will be painful for the party and its members but if Umno is half-hearted about doing things, the growing perception will be that Umno is corrupt to the core, tolerates corrupt leaders and practices double standards.All this does not inspire much confidence for the future of the party of Merdeka.