It is okay to take money or goodies from Umno-BN, but when it comes to the general election, cast your vote for Pakatan Harapan instead.

This is the advice former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave at the launch of Pakatan Harapan in Kelantan today.

“A lot of people are scared. It is okay to be scared. Take the gifts from Umno, but do not vote for them. Vote for Pakatan Harapan,” Mahathir said in his speech at the launch.

He said people in Langkawi have come up to him, saying they want to support the opposition coalition.

“But they whispered to me, if we support now, we will not get any goodies.”

Mahathir said the people there also told him: “What kind of gifts? Houses, cars and so on. It is okay, we will accept (the gifts) but we will not support (Umno-BN).

“If they want to give, we will take. If they ask us to nod, we will nod. But during the general election, we will not vote BN.”

'Fine to accept BR1M funds also'

Mahathir said it would also be fine to accept Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) funds without feeling obligated to vote for the BN government, he said.

“Do not vote for such a person, (because) why are they giving out money?

“Because they know they are wrong. Someone who is not wrong will not have to give out money to win,” he said.

He also said that the government has no way to find out who voted for who, even if they claim to have such information in an attempt to scare the rakyat.

“(Those are) lies. If you do not believe, just ask Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, who used to head the Election Commission (EC).

“The government does not know who voted for who, so when they say they know... (it is a) lie because there is no way they would know.

“We should not fear to reject BN and vote for Pakatan Harapan,” he said.

Mahathir has often claimed that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s administrative mantra is “cash is king”.