Mahathir claimed that money was given to voters in the by-election to persuade them to vote for Barisan Nasional’s candidate.
“In Slim, we know a lot of money was used. (It was) very cleverly done. They brought a van to help bring voters to the polling centres. Inside the van, money was given,” he claimed at a press conference today.
“Some of them, after voting for BN, they take a picture of their finger with the black (indelible ink) mark, and they mark that they voted for BN.
“When they show this to BN people, they are paid the balance. First time, maybe RM100, and once they show that they supported (the BN candidate), they get RM150. This was told to us. There are pictures of this.”
He said Muhyddin had “adopted” former prime minister Najib Razak’s ways in using money to acquire votes, adding that his party, Pejuang, had not expected to lose so badly in the by-election.
Mahathir said he would ensure that Pejuang did not appoint leaders who are involved in money politics or corruption as he wanted to ensure that Malaysia was governed well.
He said the party would reject individuals who want to join the party purely because of wanting to become election candidates, elected representatives or ministers.
“You join Pejuang because we want to correct the situation in the country – to get rid of corruption and abuse of power,” he said.
Mahathir also denied that Umno was bad from the start, saying the party played a crucial role in fighting the Malayan Union and in gaining the nation’s independence.
He said Malaysia was fortunate to be led by Tunku Abdul Rahman, Abdul Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn, adding that they were leaders who were not looking to make money for themselves.
“Now we find that those coming into politics are doing so because they can make money, they can do business and get contracts,” he said.
“These are the people now in politics. This party (Pejuang) has no place for such people.
“I know this may mean we might not have as many supporters, but we also believe that, generally, the people of Malaysia want good governance. And we want to ensure that we will force this practice of corruption to be reduced, if possible, to nothing.”