Malacca state executive councillor Amid Nordin has been urged to step down from his post following the suspension of his Umno membership for involvement in money politics during the party's divisional polls recently.

Betty Chew Gek Cheng, who is opposition leader in the Malacca state assembly, said that since Amid is not qualified to be an Umno member due to his involvement in money politics, the tarnished politician is also not qualified to be a state exco member.

She added that Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam should clarify why he insisted on retaining Amid when the exco member - who is in charge of tourism and culture - had already been suspended by the ruling Umno party for three years.

Amid was charged with involvement with money politics during the Umno Kota Melaka divisional polls last July where he defeated former Malacca chief minister Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik.

Abdul Rahim, who obtained 126 votes, lost by 109 votes to the 235 votes garnered by Amid. Following that, Abdul Rahim claimed that money politics had affected the outcome of the polls.

This is the third time Abdul Rahim lost to Amid in his successive efforts to make a political comeback by winning the Kota Melaka division chief post.

Prior to that, Rahim had lost to Amid in 1997 and 2000. During the 1997 polls, Abdul Rahim lost by 44 votes while in 2000, he lost by 57 votes.

No credibility

Betty, who is also the Melaka Wanita DAP chief and state assemblyperson for Kota Laksamana, said that the chief minister does not need to refer to the prime minister before sacking Amid "unless Mohd Ali wants to try to salvage Amid's political career".

"How could Amid have any credibilty to carry out his official functions as a state exco member with such a record?

"If such a simple principle cannot be grasped by the chief minister, this only proves that Mohd Ali Rustam was just babbling empty words when he speaks about accountability, transparency and combating money politics," she added.

Betty claimed that the irresponsible and dishonest attitude of the chief minister displayed in the fight against money politics was the main reason why DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has lodged eight reports with the Anti-Corruption Agency (BPR) over a period of one month regarding alleged misappropriation of funds and abuse of power by the state government.

"The corruption reports made by Lim, which involved tens of millions of ringgit, also involved Umno's money politics, which is in turn linked to the Malacca state government's policies and contracts, as had been revealed by the former chief minister, Abdul Rahim," she added.

According to Betty, this latest incident showed that Barisan Nasional component parties, be it MCA, Umno, Gerakan or MIC, were not committed to combating corruption.

"We hope that the BPR will be more committed in carrying out its investigations of the corruption reports lodged by Lim, as the disciplinary action taken by Umno against one of its leaders in Malacca indicated that there were some improprieties going on in the state government," she added.