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MUAR – Youth-based party Muda today denied trespassing and using property owned by PIJ Holdings Bhd in Johor Baru as their operations centre without permission following a police report lodged against the party.
Muda’s Larkin candidate Rashid Abu Bakar today stressed how there was a one-year tenancy agreement signed between the premise’s landlord and Muda on February 26, and how they were even issued permission letters to enter and utilise the premises in Taman Perbadanan Islam Stulang Baru.
“We never concealed our identity, we said we are from a political party and that party is Muda.
“Furthermore, we even have payment receipts allowing us to enter the premises, and even permission letters issued to Muda, allowing us to utilise the office space here temporarily for the length of the campaign period.
“To me, this is just a malicious and baseless accusation,” he said during a press conference broadcast live on Facebook this afternoon.
This was after PIJ issued a statement calling for Muda to vacate the premises meant for budding entrepreneurs to expand their businesses, and that a police report was lodged by them against Muda.
PIJ in their statement accused Muda of trespassing onto the property and utilising their “entrepreneur incubators” without permission saying facilities there are meant for growing businesses and not as a political party’s operations centre.
“There is no reason for us to trespass; we never pried open the doors or the windows, nor did we climb in through the rooftop to enter the premises,” said Rashid during the broadcast.
Rashid then claimed such actions were done by others looking to derail Muda’s campaign trail, adding such were practices of old, dirty political tactics that should be phased out.
He noted how his campaign has been operating out of the premises in Stulang Baru for a week without any issues, even after visits from the Health Ministry, Home Ministry, and police officers.
“This is just wasting our time – time that we feel is better spent on the ground reaching out to the people and conveying our message to the people of Larkin,” he added.
When asked on who would have lodged the report against them, Rashid alleged that information pointed towards those from the Barisan Nasional (BN) camp as culprits.
“I was told there was a voice recording stating that the BN candidate’s assistant had instructed for the police report to be lodged; I have not heard it, but I was told it exists.
“We could have actually just called for a press conference to play back the audio recording, that is the sort of old and outdated political tactics we should not be practising,” he said.
To date, he said no official notice has been served to him or Muda ordering them to vacate the premises and they would remain there until they are told otherwise.
PIJ in their statement added the premises being used by Muda was listed as a plot to market jati wood furniture and not for political reasons, then called for them to vacate the premises. – The Vibes, March 4, 2022.
