Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during a press conference at Parliament in Kuala Lumpur October 22, 2019. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — The RM4 million allocated to the Tanjung Piai federal constituency in Johor where a by-election will soon be held is a coincidence and not an attempt to fish for votes, the prime minister said today.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad explained that the government’s job is to budget for development projects and that Tanjung Piai was no different.

“Before the candidate nominations, we were doing our jobs as usual, and at any time in that course, we do allocate funds. However, this, when we gave the allocation, coincidentally there is a by-election there.

“If there are campaigns going on, it’s not good that we offer any aid. However, as per the norms, we do have plans, but to the best of our might, we won’t use these plans as bait to attract votes,” he told reporters in Parliament when asked why the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition did not wait for the by-election to end before announcing its incentives.

Dr Mahathir who is also Parti Pribumi Malaysia Bersatu chairman affirmed Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman assertion earlier today that the RM4 million allocation for Tanjung Piai he mentioned on Saturday, was not new and had been “discussed a long time ago.”

He told the press outside Dewan Rakyat that the allocation for sports infrastructure is part of RM14.6 million in funds that the late Tanjung Piai MP Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik had requested for his constituency prior to his death.

Malay Mail obtained a recording of the press conference.

Last Saturday, Syed Saddiq said the RM4 million is to upgrade various sports and recreational facilities, including six futsal courts and one football field in Tanjung Piai as requested by Dr Md Farid’s request before dying from a heart attack last September.

The Election Commission has set November 16 as polling day for the Tanjung Piai by-election, and Bersatu has submitted three names for the PH leadership to decide as candidate on October 30.