DAP chairperson Karpal Singh has accused Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of "all too obvious" and "blatant" vote buying during the Sibu by-election which concluded yesterday.

sibu by election karpal singh "One day before polling, the PM went to Sibu, and this is what he said . ‘I want to make a deal with you...can we have an understanding or not?'. The understanding was quite simple, I help you, you help me,'" said Karpal.

He was referring to an event where Najib had addressed voters in the DAP stronghold of Rejang Park on the eve of polling day, based on a May 16 report in English-language daily Sunday Eastern Times .

Karpal alleged that Najib had sought to strike a bargain with the mainly Chinese crowd to secure a win for BN candidate Robert Lau, in return for a RM5 million federal government allocation for flood mitigation work in the area.

Calling it a shameful act by the PM, he contended that "this is an offence under Section 10(a) of the Election Offences Act".

The parliamentarian explained in a statement emailed to the media later a person shall be found guilty 'for the offence of bribery if a person offers or promises any money to a voter in order to induce the voter to vote or refrain from voting'.

"I wonder if the PM knows the law. I'd advise him to carefully go thorugh the Election Offences Act. The PM could lend himself in jail. If he's not careful we may have a by-election in Pekan,"

Karpal deadpanned.

He was speaking to reporters in Parliament today, after the first meeting of the rights and privileges committee, which fixed June 8 to hear Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's explanation regarding his Apco-OneIsrael-1Malaysia remarks.

‘EC must investigate'

Karpal, the Bukit Gelugor MP, called on the Elections Commission (EC) to have the PM investigated.

Karpal said Najib's phrase 'Do we have a deal? If Robert Lau wins, we will give you RM5 million' has said it all.

sibu by election 120510 najib at temple possession 1 He stressed that, in his opinion, Najib's statement "is not a commitment, it's a clear case of blatant bribery".

"I'd advise the DAP leaders in Sibu to make a police report".

"The MACC must come into it. It's too serious coming from a PM. It can't be accepted. We don't want a precedent like this to be set.

"Of course there have been (election promises) like this in the past but this one is too obvious to be ignored. This cannot be dismissed."

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