The longer campaign period leading towards next year’s Umno polls could actually help reduce money politics and not worsen it, said Perak Umno chief Datuk Seri Mohammad Tajol Rosli Ghazali.

“The longer the campaign period, the fewer chances there are for money politics as it is not easy to ‘look after’ people for months.

Source: The Star

Reading through this report by The Star, I can safely say that money politics is alive and well in UMNO. It seems to be the normal practice and part and parcel of climbing up the ladder of the political tower.

So the longer period would mean it will cost more to 'look after' the people; making it a non-viable way to gain support in UMNO but what happens when we have candidates who have war-chest that are limitless? Mind you, career politicians are ready for the long haul and their war-chests run into the millions. Money is not the issue to them and neither is buying or selling out one another. So really, the length of time till the party elections is not an issue here.

In short, money politics should be irradicated.

Wasn't this one of the promises of Pak Lah when he came into office? It seems he has forgotten or merely given up. It is not an easy thing to rid off when the whole structure of the political party basically survives on who can pay off the most. It is not only during nomination time that money is passed around. Even during the lull moments, money is passed around through the awarding of contracts and favors. This is the ROI for money passed during nominations.

So what is a few million when you can make back billions?

So money politics is money politics and nothing will change in the way politics is done in Malaysia. The fact that statements like the above make it into prime time news just shows how real the matter is and how deep it is instilled into the very fabric of UMNO itself.