The Umno division youth leader alleged to have dabbled in money politics by manipulating students to secure his nomination for the Tanah Merah division chief post has denied any knowledge or involvement.

Tanah Merah Youth chief Ikmal Hisham Abd Aziz, when met in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, said the allegations were merely intended to discredit him and destroy his political career.

"The allegations are all baseless and untrue. I challenge them to prove the presence of students at the branch meetings and show me the attendance sheet which has the names of these students," he told malaysiakini.

"I never arranged anything even remotely as alleged. The entire scam could very well have been organised by someone without my knowledge. I also don't know anything about ICs being used to get students to attend meetings and vote for my nomination.

"I believe that allegations of money politics here is just to oust me without even a proper contest."

Ikmal is facing Tanah Merah incumbent Umno division chief Hashim Safin and the division meeting has been suspended indefinitely pending an outcome by the party's disciplinary committee. Both were asked to explain the allegations to the committee last week.

Last week, a youth protest action committee lodged a police report on the IC scam followed by a complaint to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia.

Maintaining his innocence, Ikmal said he believed that the opposing camp was trying to tarnish his image among the grassroots due to his "excellent track record of helping the needy, especially students".

"Thankfully, so far I've been able to facilitate university entry for high achievers and secure financial aid for bright students from poor families."

Motivational talks

Among the allegations by the youth protest committee is that Ikmal had paid off school and university students to secure his nominations at several Umno branch meetings within the Tanah Merah division between June 27-29.

According to the statutory declarations made by several Upper Six students from SMK Hamzah 1 in Machang, Ikmal had misled them into going for a motivational talk at SMK Dato' Mahmud Paduka Raja 2 in Tanah Merah, only to be later given identity cards belonging to other people to facilitate their presence at the branch meetings as Umno members and to support his nomination.

Ikmal denied giving any talk at that school where he allegedly briefed the students on what they were supposed to do at the branch meetings later.

"(However) On June 24 or 25...can't remember the exact date now, I was invited to give a motivational talk by SMK Hamzah 2 principal, who was present with some 200 students and teachers," he said.

"I'm usually invited to talk on educational opportunities, university placements and scholarship matters in secondary schools in Tanah Merah due to my active participation in student-related programmes."

Ikmal also insisted that no school students were present at any of the Umno branch meetings. The Upper Six students had mentioned Kulim, Sri Kenanga and Bechah Pertang Hilir branches in their statutory declarations.

"But members have also been complaining about branch meetings being postponed at the 11th hour. Some branch heads allegedly told members that the meetings were held earlier than scheduled and provided no explanation," he said.

"I will quit tomorrow as Tanah Merah youth chief and national youth exco member if (they) can prove that even one school student was present at the meetings," he said.

However, Ikmal said that some University Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students did attend some of the Umno branch meetings as passive members and that they "did not contribute any vote at all to my nomination".

The Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 bars students from participating in political activities.