MACC asked to probe PAS offer of ‘payment’ to voters

WHEN UMNO WAS DOING THIS - IT WAS ALRIGHT.

GUA MUSANG, Oct 31 — Kelantan Umno Youth has asked the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate a PAS offer of up to RM250 in what is claimed to be transportation cost for voters outside Kelantan to come to the state and vote in the Galas by-election on Thursday.

Its secretary, Bazlan Baharudin, said the promise of payment to voters contravened Election Commission (EC) regulations and immediate action should be taken to stop the move.

PAS Election Advisor Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman announced yesterday that the party offered between RM200 and RM250 in transportation cost to 1,557 voters outside Kelantan to come to the state and vote in the by-election, and claimed that the payment was not a bribe.

In a response to the PAS statement, EC Deputy Chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the payment offer contravened Section 10 of the Election Offences Act 1954 as the money could be assumed to be a bribe to buy votes.

The by-election is a straight fight between Abdul Aziz Yusoff, 49, of the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Dr Zulkefli Mohamed, 44, of PAS, necessitated by the death of the PAS assemblyman, Chek Hashim Sulaima (rpt) Sulaima, on September 27. — Bernama