A woman in a Pakatan Harapan shirt is seen giving out cash in a photo widely shared on social media.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — The woman in a Pakatan Harapan (PH) shirt shown in pictures giving out cash to people was simply “reimbursing” PH volunteers for petrol costs in the Cameron Highlands by-election, the PH campaign said today.

Arvind Bharet, assistant head of the Jelai PH operation centre, said the volunteers had come to Tanah Rata on nomination day on bike from their homes in the interiors of the Pahang constituency.

“This reimbursement was declared as part of election expenses,” Arvind said in a statement.

“Everything was done according to the law. As a PH component party, DAP believes in clean and fair elections and we will continue to hold this principle in our campaign.”

Pictures of a woman in a PH shirt giving cash to other people wearing the same shirt have emerged on social media, sparking claims from Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders that the ruling coalition was engaged in bribery in the election.

Election watchdogs have previously said in their report on the 13th general election that bribery included cash, and travel allowances or reimbursements.