GE14 campaign in Kedah turns ugly

Extortion of a candidate, burning of a PKR flag and attempts to confuse voters with different party flags are just some of the incidents.

Teh (right) and another DAP member holding up a police report and a picture of the burnt PKR flag.

ALOR SETAR: With polling day fast approaching, the election campaign in Kedah is turning ugly with several incidents reported.

Kedah DAP has alleged that there were attempts to confuse voters in the state with flags bearing the rocket logo of DAP, as well as the hibiscus logo of PPBM being put up in several areas.

State chairman Tan Kok Yew said the flags had been put up in areas such as Kubang Pasu, Kuala Kedah, and Alor Mengkudu in Alor Setar.

“Everyone knows the rocket and the hibiscus have been rested for this election, so who is responsible for putting these up?

“We suspect this is an attempt to confuse the voters. We have since taken down whatever flags we could find,” he said at the Pakatan Harapan (PH) operations centre here today.

In another incident, DAP’s Kota Darulaman candidate Teh Swee Leong claimed that he had been threatened by an “influential” man in his constituency.

DAP’s candidate for Kota Darulaman Teh Swee Leong showing the message sent to extort money from him.

Teh said the man had bombarded him with phone and Whatsapp calls throughout the day yesterday, asking him for RM150 to help him pay for his car repairs.

“I told him as a candidate in this election, I cannot help him. He then sent me his bank account number.

“This morning about 8.04am, he sent me a picture of me, with captions in Mandarin asking how I was going to get people to vote for me.

“The man also said that on May 9, he would make sure that I do not win, all because I did not help him,” Teh said, adding that he did not know the man and has since lodged a police report.

The burnt PKR flag in front of a row of commercial shop lots in Pekan Simpang Kuala.

A third incident, meanwhile, has seen a PKR flag in a commercial part of Pekan Simpang Kuala in Alor Setar being burnt, prompting the Kedah DAP to lodge a police report.

Tan said the burnt flag was discovered early yesterday morning at 7am when one of their members was on his rounds in the area.

“We suspect it was deliberately burnt, as the Barisan Nasional (BN) flags next to it were untouched.

“We have since lodged a police report and we hope the police will investigate,” he said.

Tan expressed hope that such incidents would not recur and that the election campaign leading up to polling day on May 9 would proceed in a smooth and clean manner. FMT