Rizal Mansor, the special aide to the prime minister's wife Rosmah Mansor, has demanded an apology from a DAP assemblyperson over an allegation of BN “buying votes” by giving out identification cards and citizenships.

The accusation was made by Teratai state assemblyperson Tiew Way Keng on Facebook, which was accompanied by a viral image of a MyKad application form and a pledge that the applications would be rejected if the person does not vote for BN,

The National Registration Department (NRD) has confirmed that the image is fake.

Rizal claimed Tiew’s post was a “clear example” that DAP leaders liked to spread falsehoods without first verifying them.

“If the leaders act like this, it is unsurprising if their supporters are also kaki fitnah (slanderers),” he added in a statement today.

Rizal also appeared to take a swipe at Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad over his involvement in Project IC, the moniker given to an allegedly politically-motivated mass naturalisation project initiated during Mahathir's time as prime minister.

“The BN government under the leadership of (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak) knows that the nation's sovereignty and the 'keistimewaan' (uniqueness) of being a Malaysian citizen should not be exchanged or bought with votes.

“(This is) unlike a former leader who is now the top leader in Pakatan Harapan, who in the past was accused by DAP for being involved with Project IC in Sabah,” he added.

Rizal said Tiew (photo) should apologise for her accusation and take the opportunity to “seek clarification about Project IC from leaders who now sit in the same row as DAP.”

A check by Malaysiakini found that the post is no longer on Tiew’s Facebook page.

Contacted later, the DAP assemblyperson said she had deleted the post yesterday after NRD announced it was untrue.

Asked if she would apologise for her post, she did not offer a definitive answer but maintained it was her duty as an elected representative to use communication channels like social media to question if such claims were true.

“The question is, do you apologise for a question you ask?

“When these things become viral, it is my duty to ask NRD if it is it true or not. NRD replied saying it was not true, so I said thank you and took it down.

“(With) these things, I cannot wait until today to write them a letter and wait 14 days for them to reply,” she said.

Tiew also chided Rizal for failing to understand how social media functioned as a channel for communication.

“I think our DAP publicity bureau would have no problem teaching him about (how) social media (works) in our daily lives if he doesn’t understand,” she added.