Talking of govt role for Sivaraj ‘not an election offence’

 

Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who is home minister, at the Kulim district police headquarters. He is flanked by Kedah deputy police chief Roze Shaari (left) and Kedah police chief Wan Hassan Wan Ahmad.

KULIM: Pakatan Harapan’s secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has rejected talk of any election offence being committed for saying a place in government could be considered for C Sivaraj, the Barisan Nasional candidate who pulled out of the Padang Serai parliamentary election.

“There is no such thing as (committing) election offences here. It is clearly stated that there is no condition put forward on the issue of the BN candidate pulling out. That is crystal clear. There is no condition. What is the election offence here?” he said.

He had been asked by reporters whether an election offence was committed when he said at a ceramah in Lunas yesterday that there is a place for a youth leader like Sivaraj in the government.

Sivaraj, an MIC vice-president, suspended his campaign on Friday to make way for PH candidate Sofee Razak.

Saifuddin said a possible role in the government for Sivaraj was not a condition for his withdrawal from the election to be held on Wednesday.

Under the Election Offenses Act, any inducement to a candidate to withdraw from a contest is considered an act of bribery, which is punishable with up to two years imprisonment, a fine of up to RM5,000, or both.

Separately, Saifuddin hit out at Arau MP Shahidan Kassim for engaging in endless politicking by saying there are attempts to topple the unity government led by Anwar Ibrahim.

He said Anwar had stated that he would call for a vote of confidence on Dec 19 to prove that he has the majority support of MPs.

“Therefore we will settle it in Parliament. There is no need to make statements that would definitely cause public frustration,” he added. - FMT