Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said all the reports received by him on incidents of money politics in Umno would be forwarded to the party’s Disciplinary Committee for further action.

He said the reports would also be submitted to the Anti-Corruption Agency for legal action to be taken.

“If these two means are futile, I will reveal the names of those involved together with the reports in my blog,” he said during a “Dialogue with Tun Dr Mahathir” at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, here, today.

Dr Mahathir said bold action was needed now to restore Umno’s image and position, which were increasingly being tarnished by rampant money politics.

He said the unending problem had caused Umno to be detested by others as it was done openly and excessively.
“If we are not brave enough to act against this scourge, Umno will be destroyed. Destruction awaits us if the situation continues,” he added.

Earlier, in his speech, Dr Mahathir who helmed Umno for 22 years, said money politics was the main factor that could destroy Umno and the whole party structure.

“If Umno is not cleaned out of money politics, the country must be prepared for the downfall of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

“When they (aspirants) use money as bait, voters’ views of them will be gone. They (voters) detest this kind of people. For the next general election, the ones chosen as candidates may be those who can offer money (as inducement) to certain quarters if they are not good enough at apple polishing.

“The people will view them as candidates who got selected through corrupt means. Are the people going to vote for such candidates?"

Dr Mahathir said only party members who did not use their brains would vote for corrupted candidates.

“As I have said before, votes from Umno alone would not be sufficient to ensure victory for a party candidate. We also need votes from non-Umno members who support the party.” He said from his observation, it would not be impossible for BN to lose in the next general election if the voters refused to vote for candidates involved in corruption.

“It’s not impossible. Before the March general election, we thought we would win in Selangor, Perak, Penang and Kedah, but it did not turn out that way,” Dr Mahathir said.