Mahathir should realise that it is none of the business of the Prime Minister of Malaysia to campaign for votes for the Barisan Nasional, and there must be a clear distinction between his two positions, one as Prime Minister of the country and the other as head of UMNO and Barisan Nasional.
If Mahathir goes round the country in his capacity as Prime Minister using public funds and government resources to drum up support for UMNO and Barisan Nasional, it is a blatant abuse of power, misappropriation of public funds and clear conflict of interest.
In the past several months, Mahathir had misused his powers and position
as Prime Minister in his first national tour of the states in the
country to openly campaign for the Barisan Nasional in the run-up to the
next general election.
Malaysian taxpayers pay Mahathir to carry out his duties as Prime Minister
and not as President of UMNO and Chairman of Barisan Nasional.
Mahathir should ensure that in his second national tour of the country as President of UMNO and Barisan Nasional to seek voter support for the next general election, he should not misuse his position and powers as Prime Minister and all the expenses incurred from his second series of national tours should be paid from UMNO or Barisan Nasional funds and not from the public treasury.
This was the reason why Bapa Malaysia, Tengku Abdul Rahman resigned as Prime Minister in April 1959, when he felt that he had to go round the country to consolidate national support for the Alliance before the 1959 general election, in the face of a formidable challenge from the Opposition.
Tengku stepped down temporarily as Prime Minister between April to August 1959 so that he would not be accused of abusing his powers and position as Prime Minister when he led the campaign for public support for Alliance, resuming the Prime Minister’s post after the Alliance won the 1959 general election.
Mahathir would not be able to follow such a high standard set by Tengku
Abdul Rahman as to step down temporarily as Prime Minister so that he could
lead the nation-wide campaign for UMNO and Barisan Nasional to woo
voter support, but he should at least make a clear distinction of not using
public coffers and government resources for his second pre-election nation-wide
tour as UMNO and Barisan Nasional President.
In this connection, I call on the Auditor-General to conduct a special
audit to ensure that there is no misuse of public funds and abuse of government
facilities in Mahathir’s pre-election national tour as Barisan Nasional
and UMNO President to drum up voter support and to present the audit
report to Parliament.
(20/10/99)