‘WHY DIDN’T MB INVITE ALL CANDIDATES?’
All quarters must be transparent, says independent Lau
“WHY didn’t the menteri besar (Aminuddin Harun) invite all the Port Dickson by-election candidates to the army training centre here?” asked independent candidate Lau Seck Yan.
Lau, 51, said the explanation by Pakatan Harapan candidate Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that the visit was at Aminuddin’s invitation was unacceptable.
“Why was he (Anwar) invited, but not the other six candidates?
“In this situation (campaign), it is a highly sensitive matter and there seems to be a conflict of interest.
“We have to be cautious, even if it (the visit) was by invitation.
“All quarters must be transparent, fair and just to all,” she said during a visit to Batu yesterday.
With less than a week before polling day, Lau hoped that such an incident would not recur and that the Election Commission (EC) would be fair to all candidates to prevent a conflict of interest.
“We hope it will not happen again as it may cause confusion to other candidates and the people, which can lead to EC’s transparency being questioned.”
The by-election was called after incumbent Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, 68, resigned on Sept 12 to pave the way for Anwar’s return to the Dewan Rakyat.
EC has fixed Oct 13 for polling, while early voting is on Oct 9.
The Port Dickson constituency has 75,770 registered voters, comprising 43 per cent of Malays, Chinese (33 per cent), Indians (22 per cent) and others (two per cent)
In the 14th General Election on May 9, Danyal won the seat with a 17,710 vote-majority, defeating Barisan Nasional’s Datuk V.S. Mogan and Pas’ Mahfuz Roslan.