SUBANG JAYA, 21 Sept: Umno-BN was found to abuse power as the Provisional Government when using three vehicles owned by the Department of Information during the opening ceremony of the election operations centre in the Batu Parliament, Kuala Lumpur, 7 April.
It was revealed by a member of the media, Koh Jun Lin, as a witness at the People’s Tribunal on the 13th General Election (GE-13) here at the Empire Hotel today.
Koh, who is also a journalist at the Malaysia Kini portal, said that he tried to get an official comment from the organisers on the possible misuse of government machinery during the campaign, but was rejected.
“I was taken to meet with an individual who was believed to be the event organiser, named Captain Suhaimi Yahya, to get clarification.
“I was almost assaulted by the staff there who asked me to leave and not cause a disturbance here, meanwhile Suhaimi who turned to me said, it is good enough that I did not slap you,” he said.
Elaborating, Koh said the vehicle involves a van and two SUVs, where one of it was outfitted with speakers at the roof to broadcast a speech by the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, during the event.
“In addition to the three vehicles, I also got to see some government property such as microphones and speakers with the Information Department logos being used,” he said.
Another witness, Alfian Zohri Mohd Tahir who was a Permantau volunteer in the election said the same incident (using government machinery) was identified in the BN campaign in Tebrau.
He said that nearly 10 buses with the National Training Service Centre (PLKN) displayed were used by BN to attend a reception with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“The event was also attended by other BN leaders such as Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin and Dr Chua Soi Lek.
“In addition to using government machinery, some banners insulting the opposition (PR) were also hung in Tebrau in addition to distributing racist pamphlets to the public,” he said.