Bersih: Will ministers throng Camerons if not for polls?

CAMERONS POLLS | The recent descent of Pakatan Harapan ministers on Cameron Highlands ahead of the Jan 26 by-election constitutes an abuse of government resources, said Bersih chairperson Thomas Fann (photo).

Speaking to Malaysiakini, Fann said: “If the by-election hadn’t been called, would they have gone up (to Cameron Highlands)? Or have they pre-planned this? It is very doubtful (that they have).

“All these visits and attention were because the by-election was called. And this was done not in their capacity as a party (member), but in their capacity as the government.

“I would say that they are basically abusing the (government) resources and their positions to do this,” he said when contacted.

“If they are visiting in their personal capacities, and not promising development or whatever, then that’s a different matter. But they are using government resources (such as) vehicles and ministry resources,” he added.

In the past few days, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, National Unity and Social Harmony P Waythamoorthy, Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran and Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar have all held ministerial events in the constituency.

Harapan candidate for the by-election, M Manogaran, was seen to be accompanying Wan Azizah, Waythamoorthy and Kulasegaran during their events.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke is holding an official event there today while Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Sim Tze Tzin is scheduled to organise one aimed at meeting farmers in the constituency on Jan 11.

Campaigning?

During Wan Azizah’s trip, she had held a luncheon with farmers, had a dialogue session with the Orang Asli and travelled using a Royal Malaysian Air Force helicopter.

She has since denied she was campaigning for the by-election, explaining that she had been there to attend a National Security Council meeting about Ops Gading, an existing operation aimed at resolving illegal land use.

She also defended Xavier’s recent trip as being a ministerial matter, not a political campaign.

But to Fann, all these official events amounted to campaigning, albeit in a subtle way.

“If you ask the people on the ground in Cameron Highlands or even casual observers, it would look very much like campaigning because suddenly, you have all these ministers appearing in this constituency.

“Even though they don’t say ‘vote for Harapan’, it is quite clear that they are hoping through their visits that people will vote for Harapan,” he said.

Reminiscent of BN

While these activities did not run foul of the Election Offences Act 1954, Fann said they created an unequal playing field for candidates.

‘“This is quite disappointing because that is exactly what BN did when it was in power, and the opposition then was decrying all those activities and abuse of government resources.

“Now, we are seeing the same thing,” he added.

A tight race is expected in the upcoming by-election as BN has won Cameron Highlandsin the last two general elections by thin majorities.

This will also be the first by-election, out of the four so far, which is located in a BN-held state and with an incumbent from the coalition - MIC vice-president C Sivarraajh.

The by-election was triggered when the Election Court declared the seat vacant after determining that vote-buying during GE14 had led to Sivarraajh's win in GE14.

Aside from Manogaran, MyPPP president M Kayveas (above) yesterday announced his intention to stand in the by-election, while BN has yet to name a candidate. - Mkini