House erupts after Wan Saiful claims offered RM1.7m to back Anwar

• UPDATED 2.35PM | Added further verbal exchanges in Dewan, retraction of statement by MP.

• UPDATED 1.42PM | Added timeframe of alleged meetings and additional incentives.

PARLIAMENT | A commotion erupted in the Dewan Rakyat today after an opposition lawmaker claimed he was offered a bribe to support Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Wan Saiful Wan Jan (PN-Tasek Gelugor) alleged that he was also offered an allocation of RM1.7 million for his constituency.

When debating the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decree, the former Bersatu information chief claimed he attended meetings with different individuals who tried to persuade him to back Anwar.

The meetings, he claimed, happened four times at different hotels in the Klang Valley between Jan 17 and Feb 26.

“In all the meetings, the message was that I must support Tambun (Anwar) as prime minister and I will be rewarded.

“One of the rewards offered to me was an RM1.7 million allocation for my Parliament constituency,” Wan Saiful said.

According to the Bersatu leader, other offers made to him included financial allocations for his service centre, “Projek Mesra Rakyat” allocations which he can distribute to his followers, and unlimited “tokens” for his personal use.

He claimed those who met him also said they could make his criminal charges go away.

The allegation led to government MPs accusing Wan Saiful of peddling “hearsays” in the house while there were also others who challenged him to lodge a report with the authorities.

The opposition MP was also dared to repeat his accusation outside Parliament.

Shouting match

One of the government backbenchers, RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong) cited Section 36(6) of the Dewan Rakyat Standing Order, where he said Wan Saiful had breached the house rule for imputing improper motives on another member of the house.

This led Dewan Rakyat speaker Johari Abdul to make a ruling, where he ordered the Tasek Gelugor MP to not repeat “hearsay” in his debate.

According to Johari, the accusations that Wan Saiful made were presumptive and could not be verified, and hence should not be brought into the august house.

“Because we do not know whether these individuals you mentioned really exist or not.

“It is also possible that they are impostors who only pretended that they are supporters (of the prime minister).

“So, move on. You have mentioned your points, but do not say that these people met you to bribe you into supporting the prime minister. We do not even know if they are legit,” the speaker said.

Wan Saiful responded by saying he agreed with Johari and added that he was planning to clear the air that none of the people he met were MPs or that he was confident they were using their real names.

However, there was more outcry as the PN MP continued to level more accusations against the prime minister as he continued his speech.

This then led Johari to issue another warning to Wan Saiful and suggested that the latter lodge a police report instead of making accusations in Parliament.

‘PM corrupt’

Despite the repeated warnings, Wan Saiful again caused another shouting match at the end of his speech as he accused the prime minister of corruption.

“We must remember that in the king’s speech during the opening of this Parliament session, a speech that I support, and in his previous speeches as well, His Majesty had mentioned that he will go after all corrupt people.

“Corrupt here means abuse of power.

“Ampun tuanku, the person abusing power is the one who will be meeting you every week before the cabinet meeting,” he said.

Wan Saiful’s remarks immediately caused several government MPs to spring from their seats, including Rayer, Howard Lee (Harapan-Ipoh Timur), and Chong Zhemin (Harapan-Kampar), who criticised the opposition leader as being “kurang ajar” (rude) and “memesongkan rakyat” (misleading the people).

Following this, Johari gave Wan Saiful a stern warning to retract his remarks.

“That is a very, very, very unkind statement. I am warning you to retract that statement now.

“For you to accuse someone as corrupt without any proof, I am warning you to retract it now.”

Wan Saiful then retracted his statement.

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