PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang is only trying to legitimise bribing voters by saying that the act of giving money to them during the recent general election was an act of charity, Umno information chief Isham Jalil said.

Isham said any act of giving money to voters is not charity but a bribery.

“Charity has no reciprocation, it is sincerely given to the needy.  

“If a transaction has something in return, it is not charity, but rather business, bribery or other transactions other than charity. 

“Giving money to voters during the election and making them swear to vote for PAS is not charity, it is bribery,” he posted on Facebook. 

Yesterday, Hadi defended the party’s distribution of cash to voters during the last general election, stating that it was charity, hence not against election rules. 

The Marang MP said existing rules only prohibited contesting candidates and contesting their representatives from giving cash to voters. 

“According to election law, a candidate or a candidate’s representative cannot give out cash money, it is up to the public to give alms,” said Hadi. 

Isham said that Hadi should not look for excuses to legitimise bribery to voters. 

“If bribing voters is allowed, where is our country’s political and democratic system heading when a party and its members can arbitrarily bribe voters in the name of doing charity to win an election?

“Similarly, before an election or while in government, to give this ‘charity’, they take bribes from government projects and use the money to bribe and give ‘charity’, so that they can win the polls and form the government and hold cabinet positions.

“It is a horrible and vicious cycle of corruption and money politics.”

Isham said recent incidents have exposed how “religious men” are also not immune to the temptations of money and corruption.

Isham added that the country needs reforms on political funding to get the youth involved in politics. 

“This is so that even the youth can get involved in politics if they have good intentions and keep to the struggle without having to take bribes. 

“Otherwise, only rich people or corrupt people can succeed in politics and determine policies for the people and the country.” – January 22, 2023.