JOHOR POLLS | Muda is engaged in a dispute with a Johor government-linked company over the premises used for the youth-based party's election operations centre.
This was after the Johor-owned PIJ Holdings Sdn Bhd, through its subsidiary PIJ Property Development Sdn Bhd, in a press statement publicly accused Muda of squatting on their premises and lodged a police report against them.
The disputed location concerns Perbadanan Islam Johor's Inkubator Usahawan building in Taman Perbadanan Islam, Stulang Baru, located within the state seat of Larkin in the suburbs of Johor Bahru.
Muda's Larkin candidate Rasid Abu Bakar called a press conference this afternoon to refute the squatting allegation.
He furnished a tenancy agreement a member of their team had signed with the premises' landlord.
"I would like to strongly deny the (trespassing) claims because we have signed an agreement that states we are allowed to use the premises.
"We had a full disclosure, we never hid the fact that we are a political party, we are from Muda," said Rasid who revealed a copy of the rental agreement and proof of payment.
He added that Muda supporters had fundraised for the year-long tenancy.
‘Vacate the premises’
However, PIJ Holdings said the premises was not for the landlord to lease out.
The company said its last record and communications on the use of the premises was with an individual who indicated intentions to sell teak furniture.
"The individual is not permitted to rent out the premises to a third party.
"We regret that it was not used for entrepreneurship purposes and more disappointingly its use was without the knowledge, consent or an agreement between PIJ Property and Muda," the firm said in a statement.
"We request that Muda vacate the premises and return the premises to us in good condition," it added.
PIJ Holdings said it had lodged a police report against Muda for "trespassing".
"The Entrepreneur Incubator located at Taman Stulang Baru, Johor Bahru, was built to assist young entrepreneurs to take their first steps in business.
"It was never intended to be the operations centre for any political party," the firm added.
Rasid said the police have reached out to Muda over PIJ's report and his team is prepared to vacate the premises if required.
He also claimed that the public rebuke of PIJ Holdings against Muda was politically motivated.
Multi-party clash
Rasid is in a six-sided battle for Larkin against BN, Perikatan Nasional (PN), Pejuang, PKR, and an independent candidate.
It is the only seat where Muda is clashing with PKR in the Johor election.
His opponents are BN's Hairi Md Shah, PN's Zulkifli Bujang, PKR's Zamil Najwah Arbain, Pejuang's Mohamad Riadz Mohamad Hashim, and independent candidate Norramada N Buan.
In the last general election, Bersatu, which was part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition at the time, won the seat with an 8,590-vote majority. Bersatu quit Harapan in 2020 to form PN.
Campaigning for the Johor polls kicked off on Feb 26. Johoreans will go to the polls on March 12. - Mkini
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