The General Election was unique, he said, because the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition entered the fray without any printed election manifesto.

“This was the first time, in the history of elections in Malaya and Malaysia, that a political party was unable to distribute its printed election manifesto,” he said in his latest blog posting.

The question that arose, said Zainuddin, a former Utusan Malaysia Editor-in-Chief, was what happened to the millions set aside for printing the election manifesto.

“The answers are no longer secret. It can be found in ‘Saya Bukan Menteri’,” he said.

The draft of the manifesto, said Zainuddin, was prepared by the infamous “4th Floor Boys”, at the Prime Minister’s Department. The draft, he added, was initially handed to Utusan Malaysia for printing but later given to the New Straits Times. “The manifesto, however, never made it to the hands of the candidates,” he claimed.

“Except for those who heard the contents of the manifesto from then prime minister Abdullah Badawi himself in a live telecast, most of the candidates were no wiser.”

Zainuddin also recalled an earlier General Election, in1999, when the BN election manifesto prepared by a committee which included him was rejected by then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

“The manifesto which was sent to us a few days after we had submitted the draft was different. It was written in the prime minister’s handwriting. He had prepared it himself.”

At that time, disclosed Zainuddin, besides being a member of the manifesto committee, he was also a member of the Umno Election Psy War Committee. Then deputy prime minister Abdullah Badawi headed the BN manifesto committee.

Other members were Umno secretary-general Mohamad Rahmat, Nordin Sopiee from the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, and Abdul Kadir Jasin from the New Straits Times.

The former information minister recalled being outside Mahathir’s room for three hours, along with others, waiting for the draft manifesto to be returned to them. However, it was an exercise in futility. No draft was returned to them and they returned empty-handed.

He stressed that the draft was the result of many hours of discussion over a month in the committee. Mahathir’s manifesto, however, was not based on their work. It was completely different. “It was clear that our draft had been rejected.”

Zainuddin said Nordin had taken it in his stride, commenting that Mahathir’s response was not unusual. Nordin had experience dealing with Mahathir, having prepared many speeches for him to deliver as prime minister, especially at international forums.