Lajim’s defection is not Umno’s loss

Source

PETALING JAYA: The real reason why Sabah veteran politician Lajim Ukin resigned from all his posts in Umno and threw his support behind Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Rakyat was because of a scandal that is about to explode, popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said today.

He said that Lajim had realised that he had no future in Umno and that he would not be selected as a Barisan Nasional candidate for the coming general election.

“Lajim is carrying too much baggage. And this baggage is going to be revealed immediately after nomination day of GE13,” Raja Petra said in his Malaysia-Today portal today.

Raja Petra added that Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman knew about the scandal and that Lajim was to be dropped as a candidate in the coming general election as a result of the scandal.

“Realising that his future is no longer bright, Lajim woke up one morning and decided to join the opposition to fight for reforms.”

Islamic college project
The scandal, according to Raja Petra, allegedly involved Lajim promising his financial backer – named only as Mr W – a RM50 million contract to build an Islamic college in Beaufort in 2007.

Raja Petra said Lajim wanted Mr W – a Bruneian who had migrated to Sabah – to pay his commission upfront, supposedly as election funds for the 12th general election.

“Over the last five years since 2007, Mr W has paid Lajim a total of RM8 million. However, Mr W never got the project.

“What Mr W received instead was 55 undated cheques totalling RM3 million. But all these cheques are worthless and Mr W is hopping mad and now realises he is not going to get the project, nor his money back,” said Raja Petra, who also posted photographs of the cheques in his blog.

Raja Petra also claimed that the so-called RM50 million Islamic college does not exist, calling it a scam.

He added that Mr W, who had been Lajim’s financial backer for a long time, no longer wants to fund Lajim and wants his money back.

“If he does not get it, he is going to go public on this. And because of that Umno can no longer retain Lajim in the coming general election.

“And because of that, also, Lajim has suddenly woken up and is joining the opposition to fight for reforms – justice, transparency, accountability, good governance, an end to corruption and abuse of power, and all that shit,” said Raja Petra.

Pakatan will get whacked
Raja Petra warned that tainted candidates like Lajim would result in Pakatan “getting whacked in East Malaysia”.

He said that Anwar was making a mistake in hoping that the road to Putrajaya would become clearer with politicians like Lajim with him.

“Having Lajim and those of his ilk as your partners will only ensure that Barisan Nasional will remain in power.

“I know you [Anwar] want to become prime minister. But this type of thing is only going to make your dream become our nightmare.

“As the Malays would say: why would we want to reject ‘penyamum’ and vote for ‘lanun’? We said we want change, meaning change for the better, not change for the worse,” he added.

Raja Petra also revealed that Lajim was asking too much from Anwar – apart from cash, he also allegedly wanted to become one of the three deputy prime ministers if/when Pakatan marches into Putrajaya.

And if he can’t become one of the three deputy prime ministers, then he wants at least the post of Sabah chief minister, said Raja Petra.

“But Lajim can’t be made the chief minister of Sabah – and certainly not one of the three deputy prime ministers. And this is not because those posts have been promised to others, although that is one reason, but because he is carrying too much baggage,” said Raja Petra.