PAS: Free bus rides for students to return home to vote not a bribe

PAS has defended the Kelantan government’s free bus services for higher education students to return and vote in the upcoming state elections on Aug 12.

Its deputy president, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, proposed that the initiative should also be adopted by every state government.

“It's not a bribe, it's not the party (PAS) doing it, but it is about the (state) government providing the service for anyone to use.

“We won’t even know who they (the students) will vote for," he told reporters at Kota Bharu last night.

The Kubang Kerian MP said this in response to criticisms from rival parties who alleged that the Kelantan government's provision of bus facilities for students was a form of campaigning from PAS.

The matter gained attention after Bachok MP Syahir Sulaiman claimed that bus tickets to Kelantan were sold out after the Election Commission (EC) announced the date of the state elections.

However, Malaysiakini online checks found that as of yesterday morning, several online ticket booking sites showed there were many bus tickets available from Klang Valley, Johor, and Penang to Kelantan.

Meanwhile, Tuan Ibrahim (above) dismissed the list of candidates for the Kelantan state election that had been circulating on social media since yesterday.

The list purportedly presented Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidates for all 45 state assembly seats in Kelantan, which the PAS leader confirmed was fake.

Selection process

Tuan Ibrahim emphasised that PAS has yet to complete its candidate selection process and reiterated that the party’s Syura Ulama Council will hold a meeting next week to examine the candidate list.

"We have requested each constituency to submit at least the names of two candidates for consideration, and these names will be evaluated by the council in terms of their qualifications.

"After that, the names of the qualified candidates will be sent to the central committee for the president and state leaders to determine which candidates have the potential to win.

"I believe this time the selection process will be faster, maybe within a period of one to two weeks," Tuan Ibrahim said.

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