The disappointment of Umno leaders like Adnan Yaakob, Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir and Azmi Khalid clearly knew no bounds. They openly claimed that money politics was the cause of their defeat in the party polls.

However, amidst their strident protests, there were traces of 'give and take, and pity' regarding the dirty politics.

Adnan, for example, had criticised those who won the vice-president posts, reminding them that they were not heirs to the Umno leadership, but had been picked to carry out duties and to honour the trust of party members.

And when asked by Umno Deputy President Najib Tun Razak to reveal the evidence he had so that investigations could be carried out, Adnan declined to do so. Instead, the Pahang menteri besar 'politely' stressed that he will not do so as not to threaten the work and future of the candidates involved.

So too with Kadir, who is also the information minister, Even though he was so certain that money politics had taken place, he, just like Adnan, only made noise to the media. They both claimed to have proof, but unfortunately, were not courageous enough to make official reports.

From all the expressions of disappointment by the Umno leaders, a most interesting thing for us to ponder is what Azmi Khalid said. He touched on the role played by the special committee set up by the party's disciplinary board to watch out for money politics.

Collecting facts

The home affairs minister, who hails from Perak, questioned the role of the committee. According to him, the committee had about 1,000 'eyes and ears' all over the nation. He was surprised that the committee was keeping silent about the allegations of money politics taking place during the party polls recently.

Azmi compared the 'spies' to special branch officers, but until now, there is not even dust to show for their efforts!

The committee was set up by the Umno disciplinary board and operated secretly because its agents are undercover. Their role is to collect facts about wrongdoings by candidates contesting in the party polls.

It was hoped that the setting up of the committee would curb money politics. But it appears that the new 'weapon or mechanism' did not work. The disciplinary board must bear the responsibility for the malfunction. What is the use of a committee of observers if wrongdoings happening in front of them are just allowed to slip by?

If the anti-money politics agents really existed and functioned properly, then surely there would been no reason for Najib to ask Adnan, Kadir and Azmi to make official reports about their claims of wrongdoings. The members of the committee could come forward themselves with concrete proof to charge the practitioners of the dishonorable deeds.

Unfortunately, till now, everything seems clean. Not even one agent has claimed to have come across money politics all through the polls campaign. Was the campaigning really clean, or did the agents purposely close their ears and eyes? Or were the agents themselves also involved in the dirty campaigning?

Agents not transparent

It is difficult to answer that grand prize question. Only those who were involved in money politics can answer it. Actually, when the setting up of the committee was announced, many observers were already concerned about its effectiveness.

They opined that it was very difficult for the committee to play its part because the identities of those appointed as agents was difficult to keep secret.

How could the identities be kept secret when they are picked based on proposals from certain party leaders at the central, state and divisional level? Whether they wanted to or not, the leaders would have to seek the help of grassroots leaders to select suitable candidates to be proposed to

be made agents.

Apart from that, it is also hard for the committee to find agents who are truly transparent, honest and fair, and do not support certain leaders. When an agent supports a certain candidate, naturally he is biased towards that candidate.

In such a scenario, the agent can no longer function well and in turn, the aim of the observation committee will not be met. The situation is even worse when the agent takes advantage of his position.

All in all, it is most difficult to separate the practice of money politics from Umno. The observation committee, Anti-Corruption Agency [ACA] or whatever body will not be able to curb it so long as a post or position in Umno is considered as a gold mine.

Money politics may only become uncommon in Umno when the party no longer wields power in the nation. As such, at this point in time, it is useless for leaders like Adnan, Kadir and Azmi to waste their time and energy talking about the reason for their defeats.

The only rule of contesting in Umno now is the end justifies the means!