Pakatan gave Gerakan RM1 million to contest Tanjung Piai story denied

(The Star) – It is not true that Pakatan Harapan paid Gerakan RM1mil to contest in the Tanjung Piai polls to split Chinese votes, says Datuk Dr Dominic Lau Hoe Chai.

The Gerakan president said he needed to make this clear, since many people whom he met during campaigning were saying that the party received such a sum from Pakatan.

He said political opponents shouldn’t resort to spreading rumours, adding that this was a form of dirty politics.

“If we indeed received RM1mil, we would be able to put up many banners, flags and posters across Tanjung Piai.

“All parties contesting in the by-election should campaign fairly, ” he said to reporters during a press conference at its Operations centre in Pekan Nenas on Tuesday (Nov 5).

Meanwhile, Lau downplayed claims where 1,000 Gerakan members from three branches in the party’s Tanjung Piai were resigning some time next week to protest the party’s decision to contest in Tanjung Piai.

“I checked with the Gerakan Johor chairman, and he said that the division had no more than 100 members.

“How come there were 1,000 members?” he asked.

“If any member who does not agree with our ideologies, and they want to resign from the party, then as the Gerakan president, I wish them all the best, ” he added.

Lau also suspected that there were attempts to sabotage Gerakan’s campaign.

“Our main task in these two weeks is to get people to believe that a third force is needed, and we can be an alternative voice.

“Whatever attacks we receive, we won’t counter. We will leave it to the rakyat to make a decision and vote wisely, ” he said.

At the same time, Gerakan candidate Wendy Subramaniam, who was present in the same press conference, said political opponents should refrain from resorting to personal attacks.

She was referring to a viral picture on Facebook depicting an edited picture of her being a puppet of Pakatan.

“Women are not puppets.

“We have our own ideas and we can be leaders, too. We don’t want to see anymore such pictures, ” she said.

“I do not appreciate personal attacks, because we are now looking at national policies that we want to promote. This is not about individuals, ” she added.

The Tanjung Piai polls on Nov 16 will be a six-cornered fight between Pakatan’s Karmaine Sardini, Barisan’s Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng, Gerakan’s Wendy, Pan Malaysian Islamic Front (Berjasa)’s Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz, and two independent candidates – Faridah Aryani Abdul Ghaffar and Ang Chuan Lock.