Sanusi: 'Fact' that non-Muslims give, receive bribe the most

Perikatan Nasional (PN) election director Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor is standing by a PAS narrative that non-Muslims are the most involved in corruption.

Sanusi, who is also caretaker Kedah menteri besar, stressed that the allegations that he made were “true” and “based on facts”.

He said this when asked how PN plans to garner support from non-Muslims in the upcoming state elections when one of its leaders - PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang - had previously accused non-Muslims and non-bumiputera of being the “root of corruption”.

“I stand by what Tok Guru (Hadi) has said. As long as it is true, I will speak.

“Go take a look at the records of people getting arrested for giving and receiving bribes. There are more non-Muslims. That is true, that’s a fact,” he asserted.

He said this during the latest episode of the “Keluar Sekejap” podcast hosted by Khairy Jamaluddin and suspended Umno leader Shahril Sufian Hamdan.

Hadi had previously made the accusations in August last year, which PAS leaders then backed by citing a “survey” by a local university.

However, while the study found that 73.4 percent of convicted bribe-givers were non-Malay, its findings on bribe recipients were the opposite.

According to the study’s lead author Christine Chong Siew Pyng, she said her study found approximately 82 percent of convicted bribe solicitors or takers were Malay.

Meanwhile, Sanusi said the claims about non-Malays’ role in graft were in response to an alleged DAP narrative that Malay leaders were corrupt.

“At the time the statement (by Hadi) was made, DAP played up (claims) that Malay leaders were corrupt. Malay leaders cannot be trusted.

“(DAP said) it’s better to have a good non-Muslim than Muslim leaders who are not good because they practise corruption.

“But when you look at the facts, many who were arrested were non-Muslims,” he said.

The study was conducted by researchers based at Universiti Sains Malaysia and Tunku Abdul Rahman University College in Penang, and published in the journal ‘Asian Economic Papers’ in January 2017.

It mostly focused on the bribe givers’ perspective, particularly the factors that could lead to a larger bribe being offered.

The role of bribe recipients in corruption is mostly outside the scope of the paper and left unexplored.

In addition, MACC's Corruption Offender Database, from which data for the study was drawn, also only contained information on those who have been convicted.

This meant no analysis can be done on those who did not engage in bribery, those who did but were not caught, and those who were caught but were not convicted.

The authors also noted that Malays have a higher probability of offering larger bribes, although this group only makes up a smaller proportion of bribe-givers.

3R ‘warnings’ an attempt to curtail opposition

In a separate development, Sanusi said warnings from the authority and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim-led government to shy away from discussing sensitive issues related to 3R (race, religion and royalty) are merely to curtail the opposition.

He questioned the restrictions, saying issues on 3R are part of the Rukunegara.

“PAS was established based on the Malay-Muslim concept. If we can’t even speak about the basis of our establishment, what else do we talk about?

“They are tying our feet and our legs in the fight. That’s not fair.

“I’m just saying, on sensitive issues… when you want to speak about religion, don’t speak about the religion of others, that’s not allowed,” he said.

‘DAP spreading Islamophobia’

He cited DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng’s purported claims, where the latter was alleged to have said PN will destroy Buddhist or Chinese temples in Penang if the coalition were to come to power after the upcoming state polls.

“He can’t say such things. This is all perceptions presented by DAP and it’s to show that PAS is extreme, including the ‘Green Wave’ label.

“This is frightening non-Muslim voters towards PAS, PN and Islam.

“This is Islamophobia, that is what’s being sown in our country. And it’s destroying the basic structure of our country. This is DAP’s work because they feel threatened.

“Why is it that when they do it, it’s allowed? But when we do it, it’s not allowed. This is a disease,” Sanusi said.

Lim has said that a viral report on his temple remarks had been a mistranslation of his interview with China Press, which was originally in Mandarin.

China Press also issued a clarification saying that MalaysiaNow incorrectly translated Lim’s quotes.

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