The four Methodist churches which received a total grant of RM1.75 million from the government during the Sibu by-election campaign have refused to return the money, despite calls to do so in the interests of integrity.

One such call was made in the blog post of Methodist church and PKR disciplinary committee member Goh Keat Peng, who said that accepting the money will send the message that the church is encouraging money politics.

"(If we accept the money) we will be sending the message to the government, present or future, BN or PR, that the church...is ever willing to take money under such circumstances," he wrote.

"(The message is) ‘Make us an offer, we are open to such funding. We encourage electioneering where money is utilised as a means to win voters. Is there a higher bid?'..."

Unimpressed by this argument, Sing Ang Tong Methodist Church chairperson Robert Kwang said that Goh, the former executive secretary of the Christian Federation Malaysia, has no right to issue the call.

In a scathing written response Kwang accused Goh of being "arrogant" and speaking "wildly", and said that, as a PKR man, his views are "meaningless" as they are coloured by political bias.

He also defended the church's move to accept the money by saying that the government grant is "absolutely clean" because it is sourced from taxpayers.

Kwang described the grant of RM400,000, given on the eve of polling day, as a "special opportunity given by God" for which the church should be grateful.

"Who is he (Goh)? And what is wrong with us accepting the grant?" Kwang asked when contacted today.

RM350,000 will not be returned

Similarly, Pastor Tai of the Hwai An Tong Methodist Church said the RM350,000 received will not be returned, as the church had gone through proper procedures to obtain it.

"We made the application weeks prior to the campaign period, submitted all documents and underwent several interviews to support our application," she said.

"But they chose to give us the money during the by-election campaign. We cannot tell them, ‘No, give it to us later'."

She added that the grant came with no strings attached.

Reverend Yong Hua Sing of the En Tao Methodist Church and Reverend Clement Yap of the Tien Tao Methodist Church also said they had no intention of returning the RM500,000 received by each, and refuted the claim that this amounted to abetment in vote-buying.

"It has no relation to the by-election, other than the timing. This is not the first time that we have received grants from the government. It's not wrong, because it is also our money, as tax-paying citizens," Yong said, noting also that he has no control over personal opinions of others.

‘Reminder only'

When contacted, Goh said that what he posted was indeed just a personal view on a "troubling" occurrence, and that he was not speaking on behalf of PKR or any church.

In fact, he said, his post was a reminder to both BN and Pakatan Rakyat in their capacity as federal and state governments.

"People should know that I am part of the party's disciplinary committee because I have no post in the party, I am not speaking for PKR," he said.

He added that the post was not an attack on the four churches, nor was it an attempt to vilify them as ‘lesser Christians'. It was rather a respectful appeal for the churches to consider their actions.

"I never said the churches were wrong in taking the money (but) there has been a lot of public attention and unhappiness about this. As churches, they should be careful and at least think about what they are getting involved in," he added.