00:00Guidelines should be introduced for parties in government to deal with announcements of allocations when an election is imminent.
00:09This is what democracy advocate Thomas Fan had to say after Housing and Local Government Minister Ngah Kor Ming announced an RM18 million allocation for various projects in South Subarang Perai, Pinang under the Sentuhan Kasih program.
00:24Ngah's announcement comes ahead of the Sungai Bakapai election on July 6.
00:30Fan said the guidelines should be drawn up by the Election Commission, the Public Service Commission and the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Human Rights, Institutional Reform and Election to prevent any potential abuse of state resources during elections.
00:45While Ngah has denied that the allocation announced today is related to the upcoming by-election, Fan said any fair-minded members of the public would know better due to the timing.
00:56Fan, the former chairman of electoral reform group BERSI, said the use of incumbency advantage during polls to try and sway voters clearly rendered elections in Malaysia unfair to the opposition.
01:08He said it would have been right and fair to avoid announcing allocations when an election is imminent.
