TANAH RATA — Kuantan Member of Parliament Fuziah Salleh has questioned the Pahang Agro-based Carnival 2019 at Felda Sungai Koyan 1 held yesterday, which she described as using the government machinery to campaign for the Cameron Highlands by-election.
Fuziah, who is also the Pahang PKR chairman, said the Felda manager of the area had been instructed to issue the invitation letter to the carnival on behalf of the organisers, namely the Pahang’s Committee on Agriculture, Agro-based Industry, Plantations and Biotechnology.
“While the Federal Government agencies such as Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) were also being used to make the program a success. I have the proof here of the letter that instructed all Felda settlers (to attend the carnival) as directed by the state committee chairman without the knowledge of the Minister,” she told reporters here yesterday.
Fuziah, who is also the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, advised the Barisan Nasional-led state government to learn from the past mistakes and be careful in campaigning.
In fact, she added, the Federal Government itself was cautious throughout the campaign to make sure that the government machinery was not being used.
Earlier, in relation to the issue of parking rate in Cameron Highlands, Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate, M. Manogaran claimed that Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail had misled the people by saying that parking charges will be imposed only in tourist areas by the Cameron Highlands District Council.
However, Manogaran noted that there were also residential areas, including Tanah Rata surrounding area, which were also imposed the charge.
“Hence I asked him not to mislead the people by specifying that only the tourist area was charged with parking fees when in fact the housing area was also being charged,” he said.
The by-election is being held because the Election Court on Nov 30 nullified the victory of Barisan Nasional’s (BN), Datuk C. Sivarraajh, in the 14th General Election (GE14), as there was evidence of bribery during his campaign.
With polling day set for Jan 26, it will be a four-cornered fight between Manogaran, BN candidate, Ramli Mohd Noor, and two independent candidates, Sallehudin Ab Talib and Wong Seng Yee.
— BERNAMA
