Utusan Malaysia is at it again. Faced with declining circulation and a buoyant opposition coalition after Sarawak, the Umno-owned paper resorts to stirring the pot and trying to create ill-will among Malaysians. Continue reading »
May 092011
May 182010
Mystery surrounds the RM1.75 million in grants to four churches in Sibu – which could change the whole face of the controversy.
What prompted the federal government to award the grants to these churches during the campaign? (The churches had reportedly applied for the grants quite some time ago.) Did government officials actually meet the leaders of these churches during the campaign before deciding to award the grants? If there was such a meeting, was there an unsolicited government offer to award these grants during the campaign? Or more seriously, did the churches press for the funds to be granted? Continue reading »
May 172010
All right folks, after a good night’s sleep, I presume, let’s share some thoughts on the implications of the Sibu by-election result.
It’s going to be a lot harder for the BN to use vote-buying tactics to win voters’ support especially in urban areas in future by-elections. Sibu voters have taught the BN a bitter lesson.
Places of worship, religious institutions and independent schools should not accept grants from the government during election campaigns. This is outright vote-buying and the rejection of such offers sets a good example for their religious adherents or students and provides them a salutary lesson about standing up for ethics in public life.
Read Goh Keat Peng’s excellent piece ‘We don’t take such money‘. Mr Goh, a prominent Christian figure who attends a Methodist Church, gives us much food for thought: “I respectfully appeal to the churches directly involved in this episode (of accepting grants): If it isn’t true and it didn’t happen, then please say so. If it is true, offered and received, give it all back. WE DON’T WANT SUCH MONEY. Let the church be poor (as a church mouse) but as the Book of Proverbs says, poor but happy keeping a clear conscience.”
