Salleh: Money politics normal in America
KUALA LUMPUR: Claims that protests against United States president-elect Donald Trump are orchestrated by his opponents are not surprising as politics in the US have always been funded by “big money”.
“If you are not a millionaire or backed by millions, you have no hope of attaining high office. It is considered normal and quite acceptable in the United States,” Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said yesterday.
“Even lobbying is a billion-dollar industry and there are organisations and firms that offer this service for a very high price.
“(Former prime minister Tun) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) calls this makan dedak or money politics.”
Salleh was commenting on a recent report by USA Today, in which it claimed that supporters of Trump had started organising protests against HungarianAmerican philanthropist George Soros, who is being accused of funding groups to cause civil unrest across the US.
Salleh said that despite rejecting the practice of money politics, Dr Mahathir had turned to the US to seek allies to oust Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“And we all know that these allies do not come free,” Salleh said.
“The anti-Soros protests occurred not because he funded the election or the anti-Trump side in the election, but because he is alleged to be funding the post-election demonstrations to trigger chaos in America.
“And this is what is being done in many other countries, and has led to great loss of life and property,” said Salleh, who is also Umno treasurer.
Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi expressed shock over USA Today’s report, claiming Soros’s modus operandi in the US was similar to the current situation in Malaysia.
“The government and people of Malaysia must take seriously the article’s claim that the Open Society Foundations (OSF) is funding groups to create civil unrest.
“OSF allegedly funds the Bersih movement, which calls for free and fair elections.
“But during the 13th General Election and subsequent by-elections, opposition parties have won seats.
“And yet, Bersih rallies continue.”
Puad claimed that it was possible that the issue of free and fair elections was being used, with Soros’s help, to convince the people that the government was not democratically elected.
“If the allegations of Soros’s involvement (in the US presidential election) can become a hot topic and cause anger among Trump supporters, then Malaysians too must reject foreign intervention.”
Puad said he hoped more exposes on Soros’s suspected involvement in several local organisations, including Bersih, would be made.
“And that is why the detention of (Bersih 2.0 chairman) Maria Chin Abdullah under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 is justified, to determine whether OSF is involved with local groups.”