KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) has taken aim at the daughter of DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang for allegedly using unscrupulous means to influence voters ahead of the upcoming by-election in Pelangai, Pahang.
"BERSIH is of the view that the act of announcing such allocations is a form of undue influence by the government during the election period." Bersih said in a statement received by Politics Now!
"We have issued a statement during the six state elections where we urged the Madani government led by Prime Minister YAB Anwar Ibrahim to comply with the 3C prohibition: No Conditions, No Campaign and No Candidate, so that any announcement by Ministries and Federal Agencies during the election period is not abused in an attempt to win elections."
Bersih was referring to the Sinar Harian news report where the Deputy Minister of Education Lim Hui Ying announced additional allocations to three schools in DUN Pelangai on September 22.
Two of the three schools received RM30,000 each while the third received RM50,000. According to her, these were in addition to the previously given allocations to government-aided schools in Pahang.
"Based on these guidelines, the announcement by the Deputy Minister of Education YB Lim for the three schools in the Pelangai by-election does indeed violate the No Campaign guidelines. If additional allocations are given to all SJKC or SJKT schools throughout Pahang, the announcement can be considered not specific to schools in the DUN only."
"Although it is not an offence under the current law to make any announcement of allocation during election, BERSIH stated that the action is in contradiction with the principles of clean and fair elections because the Opposition has no access to such resources or government machinery."
Hui Ying's DAP party is a key component of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's ruling coalition. Of late, Anwar and his colleagues have come in for a public hammering for backpedaling on reforms including discharging DPM Zahid Hamidi from corruption charges, gagging critics while accusing media and blogs that do not praise Anwar and his government of 'manipulative content'.
The DAP has tried to distance itself from Anwar's actions but Hui Ying's sudden generosity to the schools in Pelangai may bolster the growing public perception that DAP too has forgotten about reforms and principles now that it is in power.
Politics Now!
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