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KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 - To city folk, RM200 to RM300 sounds paltry, but that could be a month's income to a rural odd-job worker. And, according to some Umno politicians, that is all it sometimes takes to buy one vote. The Umno election season, held once every three years, has come around again or, as some claim, this is the season to make money.
"Make hay while the sun shines," a former Umno Youth leader joked.
The last time Umno's internal elections were held in 2004, a candidate for a key post was widely said to have paid RM1,000 each to many of the 2,000 voting delegates. That's nearly RM2 million spent over a few days to buy votes.
The sad thing is, tales of money flowing to voters at the ongoing divisional meetings are as hotly debated today as the credentials of the candidates.
But the talk of "money politics" - as the vote buying is called - has got Foreign Minister Rais Yatim riled up.
If the scourge of money politics is not curbed, "it would be just better for Umno to have a tender system so that anyone who contributes the highest amount can be a leader", he said.
Rais, now in his 33rd year in politics, is known in Umno as being miserly - a testament to his steadfast refusal to play the money game.
"We have been approached under the cloak of assistance and cloak of contribution. I'm not a player so you don't see my marks going up very high," he said.
He is unlikely to qualify in the race for nominations for one of the three vice-president posts.
An Umno Youth political worker said he has been hearing whispers of vote buying since the party's 191 divisions began meeting from Oct 9 to nominate candidates for the March elections.
He said he heard of representatives of candidates turning up on the eve of divisional meetings to meet delegates. Armed, of course, with envelopes stuffed with RM200 to RM300.
"Some say delegates from brand-name divisions are offered more," he said.
Brand-name divisions are those headed by popular party leaders, such as the Pekan division headed by Deputy Premier Najib Razak.
A nomination from such a division would be read by others, rightly or wrongly, as an endorsement by that leader, although he has nothing to do with what happened. The candidate could then go around claiming he is, for example, on Najib's menu of preferred candidates.
The story mill about vote buying is getting hotter as the heat has been turned on high in this year's elections, even though the process is still only at the divisional level. Umno's 191 divisional meetings comprise delegates from its 19,000 branches.
The branches have completed their meetings, and the divisions are meeting from Oct 9-Nov 9. The election-year meetings sometimes get heated over claims that some attendees who turn up to cast votes are not "real" members.
In Rantau Panjang in Kelantan last weekend, riot police had to intervene to prevent the 400 Umno Youth members from going at one another.
The divisional meetings are all-important because candidates for the top posts must secure a set number of nominations to qualify to contest. Hence, they need to woo delegates - with money as well, if the rumours are to be believed.
And this is just the start. After the nominations are completed, that is when the 2,500 voting delegates to the Umno assembly would be wooed with great intensity.
These delegates come from the divisions, with each sending 13, and are powerful as they are the only ones allowed to vote for the party's top office bearers.
If rumours from the recent past are a guide, paid holidays are said to be popular, especially to the Indonesian destinations of Jakarta, Medan and Bali. There were also stories of bags of cash being carried to the Umno
assembly, and envelopes stuffed with money slipped into the hotel rooms of delegates along with the names of the generous candidates.
These stories are very damaging - and mostly unproven. The highest-profile candidate punished for allegedly paying off delegates for votes in 2004 is former Umno vicepresident Isa Samad. He has served his three-year ban and has again put up his name as a candidate for the vice-president's post.
The Umno election process is closely watched as Malaysia's biggest party is dominant in government. For instance, the recent resurgence of pro-Malay economic policies began at an Umno assembly three years ago,
while judicial reforms were stymied by the party's objections.
Money politics, however, is a very vague term, with many grey areas. There is outright buying of votes, but insiders say that this will hardly work without a more entrenched system of patronage. "You can't just go in and throw money around; it does not work like that," an observer said.
Most top leaders maintain a wide grassroots network, and there are expectations that the ordinary members would be "taken care of". That can range from giving them jobs or contracts, to funding grassroots programmes.
During election season, leaders are expected to pay for delegates' travel expenses, accommodation and food during their campaign rounds. They also pay campaign workers, who may be delegates.
Is this money politics? Most leaders will disagree.
"Will delegates get rich quick? Hardly," said a political aide, arguing that the money gets spent for the campaign.
As the election campaign revs into higher gear, we can expect to hear more whispers and stories. - The Straits Times
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