KULAI: Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Bukit Batu state seat Arthur Chiong has retracted remarks he made about not receiving any allocation from the Johor state government.
Chiong, who is the constituency's incumbent assemblyman, said he found a mistake in a statement he made during the Bukit Batu election machinery launch on Saturday (June 13) night.
"Upon further review, I have found that the statement claiming that 'there was no allocation from the state government for this year' was inaccurate.
"As such, I sincerely apologise to all parties for any confusion caused by the statement.
"I hereby withdraw the statement and acknowledge that the mistake was unintentional," he said in a statement on Sunday (June 14).
In his speech during the event, Chiong had alleged that Pakatan assemblymen did not receive any allocation from the Johor government this year.
"This year, me and other Pakatan assemblymen did not receive a single cent from the state government before the dissolution of the state assembly.
"However, we continue to serve and carry out our responsibilities for the public," he said.
Earlier during the event, PKR vice-president Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail announced that Chiong would defend his seat in the upcoming state election.
Chiong, a first-term assemblyman, was PKR's sole representative in the Johor state assembly before its dissolution.
He won the seat with a razor-thin majority of 137 votes in a four-cornered contest against Barisan Nasional's S. Suppayah (MIC), Perikatan Nasional's Tan Heng Choon (Gerakan) and Parti Warisan's Lee Ming Wen.
On June 1, Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi announced the dissolution of the Johor state legislative assembly, paving the way for the state's 16th election.
Johor last held a state election on March 12, 2022, when Barisan Nasional secured a two-thirds majority after winning 40 of the 56 seats.
Pakatan Harapan won 12 seats, Perikatan Nasional secured three, while Muda won one.
