Harapan: S’gor event above board despite ‘no public venue’ rule

GE14 | Selangor Pakatan Harapan has maintained that it had “gone through proper channels” in its application to use a public stadium for a political event taking place next week.

This is despite a state government directive barring local governments from renting their venues to political parties in the lead up to the 14th general election.

This came after Selangor PAS election director Roslan Mohd Shahir had questioned the use of the Kuala Selangor stadium for the Jelajah Harapan Selangor event slated to be held next Monday, April 23.

When contacted, PKR Selangor communications bureau chief Nor Hizwan Ahmad, listed as the contact person for the event, claimed use of the venue had been approved by the Kuala Selangor District Council (MDKS) after event organisers had appealed the directive.

“We sent an official letter and we received an approval. We went through the proper channels.

“We appealed (the directive) successfully,” he told Malaysiakini, adding that organisers are still awaiting a police permit for the event. 

The Harapan top brass slated to speak at Monday’s event include the coalition’s chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad, deputy chairperson Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, as well as PKR deputy president and caretaker Selangor menteri besar Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Nor Hizwan also denied that the approval had been granted due to Azmin’s position in the state government.

“The directive is just a letter, not a court order. People are always welcome to appeal.

“Other (political) parties can apply and go through the same process of appealing too,” he explained.

Malaysiakini has reached out to Azmin’s office for comment.

The directive in question, which Malaysiakini has sighted, was dated April 4 and titled “the prohibition of multipurpose halls, public halls and open areas owned by local councils to be used by political parties for GE14.”

The reason stated for the directive was the preservation of such venues for community activities and local council programmes, as the government was anticipating many applications from political parties to use these venues for political ceramahs.

It was signed by state secretary Mohd Amin Ahmad Ahya.

However, it did not state when the directive would come into force. Several state councillors Malaysiakini spoke to, under condition of anonymity, also claimed to be unsure.

Roslan had taken to social media to query Harapan’s use of the stadium, pointing out that it seemed unfair.

"Suddenly, Harapan is slated to use the Kuala Selangor stadium on April 23 for their programme. Is this fair?

"It is bad enough that the allocations for most incumbent PAS assemblypersons were frozen until today. Now, this public facility is treated as their own.

"This behaviour is reminiscent of BN's practice in the past," he posted on his Facebook page.

Roslan was referring to the alleged freezing of financial allocations of its 13 assemblypersons by the state at the start of the year.

However, Azmin has neither confirmed nor deniedthe state had taken such actions. - Mkini