S’gor PAS reps forced to use own funds

SHAH ALAM: Selangor’s 13 PAS assemblymen have been forced to use their own funds to service their constituents, said the state party head.

Selangor PAS commissioner Sallehen Mukhyi said with the state government depriving the assemblymen of annual grants, he had coughed up about RM40,000, Cempaka assemblyman Iskandar Abdul Samad RM197,000, Gombak Setia assemblyman Hasbullah Mohd Ridzwan RM130,000 and Selat Kelang assemblyman Dr Halimah Ali RM100,000.

Other Selangor PAS assemblymen had spent between RM30,000 and RM70,000 in their respective constituencies, he added.

Sallehen, the Sabak assemblyman, said all other elected representatives in Selangor had received their allocation except for PAS.

“The money is usually given to assemblymen by the end of January and it is already March now,” he told reporters here yesterday.

He said some 500,000 people from the 13 PAS-held constituencies had been deprived of development funds. Sallehen said the PAS reps would not submit appeals for funds but will ask Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali for an explanation.

“We will not appeal ... it is up to the MB whether he wants to give us the allocation or not,’’ he added.

Sallehen said he believed the move to deprive PAS assemblymen of their allocation was not Azmin’s decision “as that is not his nature”.

He said he believed that the freeze must have been due to pressure from the Pakatan Harapan leadership, namely Pakatan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.