C4: Yeo should still respond on relationship with IOI

 

GE15 | The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) has invited Pakatan Harapan's Puchong candidate Yeo Bee Yin to nevertheless explain how she would balance her links with IOI Group Bhd and public interest, even if the group does not have properties inside the boundaries of the constituency.

This comes after Yeo (above) hit out against C4 for raising the issue, although the IOI property development projects were located in neighbouring constituencies.

C4 had earlier questioned the potential "conflict of interest" because Yeo is married to IOI Properties Group Bhd (IOIPGB) chief executive officer Lee Yeow Seng, who is the son of the IOI Group Bhd founder.

In a statement to respond to Yeo's rebuttal, C4 said its analysis was based on the boundaries before the 2018 redelineation exercise, which placed the development projects beyond the Puchong electoral border.

"However, we remain perturbed by the fact that although IOIPGB's vast interest may be cut out from the Puchong constituency, this company has a major presence in neighbouring constituencies and in other parts of the Klang Valley," it added.

C4 said this is an issue because it could affect how an MP would vote in Parliament, and whether an MP would serve the interest of the people or companies linked to them.

It could also affect how an MP will debate the national budget or policies on areas which impact the companies they are linked to.

This includes how to regulate the impact of property development on the environment or changes to the minimum wage and social benefits for employees, it said.

These were matters highlighted in C4's recently published report about the nexus of business and politics.

"While we meant no harm to Yeo, we would like to invite Yeo to offer a response to these matters of public interest and engage in open conversations pertaining to her relationship with IOI Group Bhd.

"Ultimately, political parties must remain vigilant in ensuring that the circumstances giving rise to the expansion of the business-political nexus are limited as much as possible, especially if those parties are campaigning on an anti-corruption and reformist agenda," C4 said in its statement.

'C4 should have done due diligence'

Earlier Yeo noted that the property developments pointed out by C4 are in the neighbouring constituency of Subang so the issue of conflict of interest does not arise.

"In Malaysia, a constituency name and the areas it covers sometimes are not the same.

"An NGO, which aspires to raise corruption issues in the international area should do proper due diligence, lest it ruins its own credibility," she said.

Her party colleague, Kinrara state assemblyperson Ng Sze Han also pointed out that the IOI City Mall and Sierra 16 development are in the Sepang parliamentary constituency.

"As such, none of the IOI property development exists in the Puchong parliamentary area to date," he said.

This is Yeo's second time contesting in a parliamentary constituency.

In 2018, she was elected as MP for Bakri, in Johor, and served as energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister in the Pakatan Harapan government.

The mixed seat of Puchong is a Pakatan Harapan stronghold with its DAP Selangor chief Gobind Singh Deo serving as MP there since 2013.

In 2018, Gobind won with a landslide majority of 47,635 votes.

In this election, Yeo is going against BN's Syed Ibrahim Kader, Gerakan's Chew Jyh Gang and independent candidate Kuan Chee Heng.

In 2018, the constituents were made up of 37 percent Malays, 52 percent Chinese, 10 percent Indian and one percent other ethnicities. - Mkini