Not campaigning at school run, just pressing siren – Zawawi

SG KANDIS POLLS | Pakatan Harapan candidate Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni has denied using a school as part of his Sungai Kandis by-election campaign.

Instead, Zawawi said he was only invited to officiate the fun run at SK Jalan Kebun yesterday as he used to head the school's Parent-Teacher Association.

"The school had invited me to flag off the event, just to press a siren...," Zawawi told a press conference at the party's operations centre in Sungai Kandis today.

Zawawi was asked to comment on concerns raised over photographs taken during the event, which showed him at the school along with several other individuals wearing t-shirts in PKR's trademark blue.

Commenting further, Zaidi said the school had run out of the official event T-shirts – coincidentally, also light blue in colour.

"I had requested for the school to provide the official fun run t-shirts, but because we came in a group of six to seven people, there were those who did not get the t-shirt, so they just went onstage (wearing PKR T-shirts) and the photos were shared," he said.

In the photos shared by his media team, Zawawi was also seen wearing a white cap with a PKR logo.

Bersih chairperson Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari told Malaysiakini last night that the electoral watchdog will look into the possible breach of election law.

Though it is unclear if campaigning in schools is specifically disallowed, Shahrul stressed it does not accord to the "caretaker government convention."

The acting Bersih chief also cited Section 24B(7) of the Election Offences Act 1954, which states that campaign material cannot be displayed within 50m of any polling station during the campaign period.

SK Jalan Kebun, where the event was held, is designated to be a polling station. - Mkini