During the MIC general assembly, Zahid Hamidi (UMNO President) warned his fellow BN members that if they fail to win their seats, they may face corruption charges. Who are these folks and what did they do (hello, MACC).

This is supposed to be a short newsletter, so we will list them down and you Google them, alright? Also, we will be using the term ‘allegedly’ a lot, so bear with us.

Tok Mat (Mohamad Hassan, UMNO Deputy President)
Tok Mat spilled quite a lot of tea few months ago, but we have some tea against him (you know this already, but we’d like to remind). Transfer of RM10 million to London via a money changer in 2018.

Saravanan (MIC Deputy President)
MIC has long been known to be involved in corruption cases (remember the MAIKA scandal?), and Datuk Saravanan is no exception. It was alleged that he was involved in the misappropriation of funds amounting to RM100 million from the Penjana Kerjaya hiring incentive programme.

Vigneswaran Sanasee (MIC President)
During the pandemic, his Yayasan Strategic Social, under MIC received RM9.1 million from Mitra to do online classes for poor Indian school kids. The funds allegedly did not reach these kids.

Wee Ka Siong (MCA President)
Bribery charges under the MRT project.

Hishamuddin (Minister of Defence)
Where do we even start? *Google these terms*
– LCS
– Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd
– China’s big brother claims 

Note that Zahid Hamidi, although recently acquitted from all charges in foreign visa (VLN contract) corruption trial is currently facing 47 charges (CBT in relation to foundation Yayasan Akalbudi, money-laundering, bribery)

In last week’s newsletter, we covered how the Budget becomes law through the Supply Act (year). Now that the parliament is dissolved, we technically don’t have a government, therefore, no one can vote for or against the proposed Budget.

That said, according to Article 55(7) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, any pending Bill (the current Supply Bill 2023 for example) will not lapse even if the parliament is dissolved.

Therefore, technically, the new government can choose to re-table the same Bill. However, this is entirely up to the new government, and its policies and beliefs.

We think it’s a very cheeky thing to do to table the Budget right before dissolving the parliament. Do you know what content writers go through when the country’s budget is tabled?

Here’s the thing, the anti-hopping law came into effect just this month, on October 5th, just in time before the Prime Minister dissolved the parliament.

What does this mean? Read our previous newsletter here on the anti-katak bill

Short answer: It’s just how it works.

Long answer: In a land before time (1957), the Reid Commission (we learned this in Sejarah) in establishing the Parliament through the Federal Constitution, modelled it upon how the British system works. The Parliament consists of the YDPA, the Dewan Rakyat (Members of Parliament who are elected via a voting system), and the Dewan Negara (Senators, appointed by the YDPA). 

So what’s a Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN)? The DUN is the highest legislative body in the State which consists of the State leader (Sultan or Governor), a President, and a member of the DUN (also elected via a voting system).

So why not just vote for both during the same elections? Because the power to dissolve the parliament lies with the YDPA and the state legislature, the sultan or governor.