PAS Kuala Terengganu MP Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah said today allegations he had been declared bankrupt by a court in Terengganu might have surfaced due to his participation in starting a grassroots movement opposing a property tax hike in Kuala Terengganu.

 

Raja Kamarul vehemently denied the allegations, saying that he never received any bankruptcy notice and never had any such case going on in any court.

 

"I have been in politics for only over a year. I think this may be linked to my opposition to property tax hike, which is being increased by some 800 percent to 1,000 percent," he said.

 

Raja Kamarul said he might also be the victim of Umno's attempt to distract people off the internal bickering in the Terengganu leadership following the recent change in menteri besar.

 

A MP who is declared bankrupt can no longer hold office as a parliamentarian and this will trigger a by-election.

Raja Kamarul also took part in a massive rally that saw about 10,000 people take to the streets to oppose the property assessment tax hike.

“This has obviously ruffled some feathers in Umno. Because we are actually going to the grassroots and educating them about their rights,” he said.

“We are teaching them (the rakyat) how to fish, but Umno likes to give the fish to the people,” he added.

He said that the rumours about his bankruptcy first surfaced more than a month ago and were circulated on some blogs.

He said that the topic was even more hotly discussed among Terengganu Umno members, until an allegation that the court had declared him bankrupt emerged yesterday.