BUKIT MERTAJAM: Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s remark about not granting approvals for agriculture-related projects if PKR won the Permatang Pauh by-election was not a form of bribery, the Election Commission (EC) said.
Its chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, told The Malaysian Insider that voters need to prove that they were influenced and swayed by the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister’s statement to vote for Barisan Nasional (BN) instead of PKR.
“Whether the remark can be classified under Section 10 of the 1954 Election Act depends on who it was intended for and must be proved that it had induced the Permatang Pauh folk to vote for BN.”
PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar had called on the EC on Sunday to investigate Ismail’s remark. She said that the statement, made while campaigning for BN in the Permatang Pauh by-election, was akin to bribery under the Election Act 1954.
In a speech last Friday, while campaigning in the Kuala Mengkuang polling district, Ismail Sabri told voters that his ministry would reject applications for agricultural funds and projects if Pakatan Rakyat wins the parliamentary by-election, to be held on Thursday.
He said only the BN’s candidate, newcomer Suhaimi Sabudin, would be able to bring constituency issues to the Parliament.
Ismail Sabri defended his statement on Sunday saying that it was made to show that it was easier for voters to get help from a BN minister than from a Pakatan representative.
On the campaign trail yesterday, MIC deputy president Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam described the situation in PKR as both a tragedy and a comedy if the party had no other leader to field in Permatang Pauh but its president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
He said it was a tragedy if PKR was so “bankrupt” a party that it did not have other candidates who could be fielded to contest in the party’s stronghold.
“If she is the only one, then PKR is a bankrupt party. It doesn’t even have leaders. So much so that it had to pick a candidate who may not have time to serve and will need others to represent her,” he told reporters in a press conference in Seberang Jaya yesterday.
He was asked what he thought of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng saying that he could help Wan Azizah watch over Permatang Pauh if she was busy in Kajang.
“We give the people our candidate Suhaimi Sabudin, He is a local and he will be here full time. The people can contact him anytime and that will give them the chance to enjoy better service from their elected rep.
On voter support, he said the MIC had received positive response from the Indian community in Permatang Pauh. He said the party was confident that it could get 60% of the 4,581 Indian votes in the parliamentary constituency.
Indian voters make up 4% of the 71,513 voters in Permatang Pauh.
Also campaigning in Permatang Pauh, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said its constituents need a home-grown representative who really knows their concerns like the back of his hand, Bernama reported.
Musa, who is Sabah Umno liaison chief said Suhaimi has the prerequisites as he is a local.
Citing the case of Sabah, which had at one point been ruled by the opposition, he said that as a result, the state lagged behind in development.
“There was no development in Sabah at the time because relations between the state government and federal government were not good.
“When Sabah returned to the BN fold, only then did the state start progressing, through a substantial allocation from the federal government,” he said.
The by-election will see four candidates, Suhaimi, Wan Azizah, Azman Shah Othman (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and Salleh Isahak (independent) vying for the seat which has belonged to PKR since 1998. —The Malaysian Insider/Bernama
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 5, 2015.