Just about a week before the UMNO party elections, the UMNO Disclipinary Committee released some surprising decisions. Datuk Ali Rustam was barred from contesting for the UMNO deputy president post due to three of his aides who were found guilty of vote-buying.
Okay, that's fine by me. However, the shocking parts were that Datuk Khairy Jamaluddin was given a "stern" warning letter & Datuk Khir Toyo was cleared of any wrongdoings !! Can you believe it ? Khir Toyo was declared innocent !! Do I even need to list down the allegations & controversies surrounding Khairy, & especially Khir Toyo ?
This looks like selective persecution to me because the decisions are a bit fishy. Here's a small analysis.
1. Rustam had a high chance of winning before he was banned.
2. Rustam is known to be a Badawi loyalist, not Najib's.
3. If Rustam is out, it will pave the way for Muhyiddin(Najib's loyalist) to win...and he did win.
4. The warning to Khairy shows that 'somebody' wants him to leave just like Badawi.
5. Khairy was declared "clean" to allow him to contest and prevent Mukhriz (Tun Mahathir's son) from winning...& Khiary did win. Najib & Tun M don't seem to be on good terms lately.
Doesn't all this seem to benefit Najib a lot ?
Another weird thing is that Rustam was just barred from contesting the deputy president post even though he was found guilty of corruption. Is that enough ? He's still fit to be Melaka's chief minister but not deputy president of UMNO ? Even his party membership wasn't suspended.
How come Khairy was just warned ? The reason given was because the committee could not find a link between Khairy and his so-called agent. I don't buy it. I believe he's either guilty or innocent. What's the point of a warning ? Will it stop him from practicing corruption ?
Why wasn't a report made to the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commision) ? If Rustam is guilty, he should be reported to the MACC and charged in court. How come no UMNO member or anybody else file a report ? What's the use of being barred if you're not charged in court for your crime ? Now that the UMNO polls are over, Rustam can continue practicing corruption.
At the end of the day, the decision of the committee makes no difference. It shows that UMNO is still not serious on curbing rampant "money politics" a.k.a corruption in its party.
