KIMANIS POLLS | Electoral watchdog Bersih has raised its concern in regard to Warisan candidate Karim Bujang's statement urging voters to vote for the party to allow developments to take place in Kimanis.

"Bersih is in a view that government parties should compete about policies, performances, and fulfilling manifesto rather than intimidating people to block the development from taking place in the area if it falls to the opposition.

"This is clearly an outdated tradition... Warisan-Pakatan Harapan should have led the paradigm shift to make Sabah Ubah and Malaysia Baru meaningful rather than continuing with the BN government's outdated tradition," Bersih steering committee said in a statement today.

The committee stressed that it's unfair to intimidate and punish the people if they voted for the non-government party candidate only to see no development in the area.

"This is a form of discrimination to the local development in the opposition area, in fact, it's an abuse of resources and the government power."

On another matter, Bersih also ticked off the federal and state governments which announced certain allocations within the by-election campaign period although both were repeatedly reminded against the practice.

It cited examples where the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Salahuddin Ayub handed-over a cheque amounting to RM140,000 to fishermen in Bongawan; Sabah Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Junz Wong gave aid to paddy farmers affected by flood; and Sabah Rural Development Minister Ewon Benedick announced an allocation of RM100,000 to upgrade the road near the surau of Kampung Pantai Sri Gading in Membakut.

"These are abuses of government resources to attract voters by announcing and approving projects during the election. The principle of fair and just election should provide a level playing field to all candidates.

"Although the announcements of the projects are not against the law, it's clearly unethical and a dirty political campaign.

"In the past, the opposition was livid with Umno and BN over the abuse of power, now when the former is in power, they do the same," it said.

Bersih also reminded Warisan and Harapan that the campaign method of "you help me, I help you" is not effective as evident in the Tanjung Piai by-election which saw the opposition triumphed as the winner.

Yesterday, Karim, during his campaign programme, told the voters that they have to make a wise decision by voting for the government party so that the remaining three years before the general election could be utilised for developments in Kimanis. 

The by-election was called after the Federal Court on Dec 2 last year upheld an Election Court ruling that nullified Anifah Aman's 2018 victory for the Kimanis parliamentary seat.

Kimanis Umno chief Mohamad Alamin has been picked as the candidate for BN.