PKN S'wak lodges police report over RM8.6 mln fund ‘slander'
KUCHING: Penggerak Komuniti Negara (PKN) Sarawak lodged a police report yesterday against DAP Perak Youth chief Steven Chaw for claiming that the organisation had received a government allocation of RM8.6 million.
The report was lodged by PKN Sarawak chairperson Nurhanim Mokhsen at Satok Police Station here.
Nurhanim said Chaw's allegation against PKN, which was published in the Perak Today portal dated Nov 12, claimed that a total of RM8.6 million was channelled to PKN and that each committee member would receive RM780,000.
“I would like to vehemently deny the slander and defamation in the report which contains false information. The slanderous statement has also been uploaded to social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and even spread in other WhatsApp groups.
“The Sarawak Report portal, which is famous for twisting facts, has also picked up the allegation and spread this disgusting slander,” she said in a statement.
Nurhanim stressed that PKN is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that operates voluntarily without having received the alleged allocation of funds.
“Our volunteers do not receive any salary and all activities are carried out based on the spirit of volunteerism,” she said.
On the other hand, she pointed out that Penggerak Komuniti Tempatan (PeKT) is an administrative initiative under the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, and is a mechanism that focuses on and strengthens the implementation of the National Community Policy.
She noted that PeKT was approved by the Cabinet on Nov 23, 2018 to empower the community according to the demographic suitability of an area and local community, and was launched on Feb 17, 2019 by the then Prime Minister.
“The statement made by the leader of the Opposition, Member of Parliament for Port Dickson (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) in his speech on Budget 2021 in Parliament, in accusing that the funds are to be channelled to PKN, is inaccurate and irresponsible.
“It is very unfortunate that the Opposition's motives are only aimed at cheap political interests to confuse the people.
“For general knowledge, PKN, an NGO has been around for a long time and we are proud to have served voluntarily under the Pakatan Harapan government and now under the Perikatan Nasional government.
Nurhanim meanwhile urged DAP to apologise for spreading ‘cheap political slander', stressing that PKN will not hesitate to take further action if the slander against PKN continued to be viralled.
“We hope the people at large will be enlightened properly on this issue,” she said.