GE15: BN's Ipoh Barat candidate claims goodie bag stunt sabotage

IPOH: Several unscrupulous people are trying to sabotage Barisan Nasional's candidate in the Ipoh Barat parliamentary constituency by handing out goodie bags with the coalition's logo on it to the people near the Kinta Height flats, says Low Guo Nan.

The candidate for the parliamentary seat said he has checked with all component parties and found that none were involved in the matter.

"While campaigning near the flats, I found a group of residents waiting at the ground floor.

"Feeling curious, I approached one of them and was told that they were waiting for Barisan to give out the goodie bags," he said when met at the flats on Wednesday (Nov 16).

"I then found out that a group of men had come in a truck and distributed the goodie bags, containing rice, sardine, oil and other foodstuffs to some folk outside the flats on Tuesday at about 10am.

"Worse still, the men only gave out the goodie bags to Indians, which caused an uproar among some other folk," he added.

Low said he believed that some people were trying to make Barisan look bad with the stunt.

"I was told that the men had also taken pictures of the people getting the goodie bags.

"I believe these pictures will surface on social media later, as a means to discredit our candidates," he said.

"I strongly condemn this heinous act, which tried to incite hatred and racial sentiments.

"As candidates, we are aware that we could be disqualified if we are found to be handing out aid with our logo on the items," he said, adding that a report has been lodged with the police, while a complaint to the Election Commission will follow suit.

"We are now at the final lap of the campaign, there is no need for such underhanded tactics as we had hoped for a fair fight," he added.

A resident from the flats, Chan Poh Chan, 65, said four men in plain clothes were seen giving out the goodie bags on Tuesday.

"I think they gave the bags to five people.

"They were only here for about 15mins and left after that," the retired hawker said.

"There were a lot of angry folks as they felt to have been unfairly treated," she added.

Low will contest the federal seat against incumbent MP M. Kulasegaran, Perikatan Nasional's Chek Kwong Weng and former MyPPP president Tan Sri M. Kayveas, who is standing as an independent.