KUALA LUMPUR: Jaringan Melayu Malaysia today rubbished claims by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s claims of being offered a bribe by an officer from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Calling it a “total deception” and coming from a “script”, JMM president Datuk Azwanddin Hamzah said he believed it was done to draw attention away from PPBM chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s failure to keep party members from leaving due to a loss of trust in him and his son, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir.
“I’m convinced that, most likely, Syed Saddiq was told to read a ‘script’ written by Dr Mahathir because it was similar to what can be found in the chedet.com blog (Dr Mahathir’s blog).”
Azwanddin said, as far as he was concerned, no one would bribe anyone else to relinquish a post, but instead for the person offering the bribe to attain a post.
He said Syed Saddiq needed to provide evidence of the alleged bribery to the media as he had announced it to them.
“Do not play games saying that the ‘evidence will only be given to the authorities’.”
Syed Saddiq had claimed he was offered a RM5 million bribe to take up a scholarship from Oxford University, adding that he and his family had received threats from certain quarters over his involvement in politics.