BN 'Recce Team' To Find Out 'Buying' Of MPs - Tengku Adnan

PUTRAJAYA, March 20 (Bernama) -- The Barisan Nasional (BN) will send an "intelligence team" to Sabah and Sarawak soon to find out if the Opposition is trying to "buy over" its members of parliament to topple the federal government, secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Thursday.

He said the BN needed accurate and authentic information following claims of BN MPs wanting to join the opposition alliance.

"Of the reports received so far, some are true, while others are not. Some say it is so (truth), others say it is not," he told reporters.

News reports have quoted Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as saying that his party welcomed any BN assemblyman or MP who wished to cross over to his party.

Anwar said he had met several BN leaders during his recent visits to Sabah and Sarawak. Talk of crossovers surfaced with the BN winning 140 of the 222 parliament seats. With 82 seats in hand, the Opposition only needs 30 more to secure a simple majority of 112 seats in parliament to form the federal government.

Tengku Adnan, however, said the BN MPs would not be easily taken in by the Opposition's overtures to cross over as the coalition was still strong, relevant and popular with the people.

In the March 8 general election, he said, the BN received 4.1 million votes, PKR 1.4 million, while DAP and PAS polled 1.1 million votes each.

This showed Umno and BN were still relevant, he said.

"The problem is, these people are trying to fish in troubled waters... the water is actually not murky as the people who did not vote for BN were now shocked because they did not expect such an outcome.

"We know the people are worried now as they were with the BN for 50 long years," added the Putrajaya MP who was appointed as Umno and BN secretary-general yesterday.

-- BERNAMA

Guan Eng urges PM to lodge report over alleged "buying of BN MPs"

BUTTERWORTH, March 20 (Bernama) -- Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng Thursday asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to make a police report if he had evidence that opposition parties were "buying" Barisan Nasional (BN) members of parliament to topple the federal government.

Lim said the matter should be reported to the police as it constituted an offence and could be regarded as corruption.

"If there is evidence, I hope he can produce it for action to be taken," he told reporters after attending the state-level Maulidur Rasul (Prophet Muhammad's birthday) celebrations at the Seberang Jaya Expo Site, here.

The DAP secretary-general also said that his party was not involved in such an activity.

Newspapers today reported Abdullah saying he was aware of attempts to "buy" BN MPs and stressing that there was no reason for his government to collapse as it was strong and had the people's support. Newspapers had also reported that the opposition alliance, which won 82 seats in the Dewan Rakyat in the March 8 general election, was trying to get MPs from the component parties of the Sabah BN and Sarawak BN to cross over for the opposition alliance to secure a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat and form the federal government.

Asked if the Penang state government of the DAP-Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) coalition would make changes in state agencies like the Penang Development Corporation and the Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang Bhd, Lim said changes would only be made if deemed necessary.

However, as of now, the state government did not want to create any anxiety and did not wish to rush into making any change, he said.

Lim also said that he was happy at being able to attend the Maulidur Rasul celebrations, adding that this showed that the state government led by him respected all religions.

-- BERNAMA