KUCHING: The Penggerak Komuniti Negara (PKN) Sarawak has lodged a police report against Perak Democratic Action Party (DAP) youth chief Steven Chaw over the controversial allocation of RM8.6 million.
PKN chairperson Nurhanim Hanna Mokhsen said the report was made following Chaw’s statement quoted in an article by a local portal in Perak published on Nov 12, alleging that each committee member would receive RM780,000 from the fund.
“I vehemently deny the statement in the report.
“The same slanderous statement has been circulated in social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp).
“The Sarawak Report portal also participated in the spread of this disgusting slander,” she said on Monday (Nov 16).
She also demanded DAP to apologise to PKN over the spreading of false information to the public.
“We urge DAP to apologise to PKN for spreading cheap political slander. We will not hesitate to take further action if the spread of this slander continues,”
She suspected the action was perpetrated as political capital to tarnish PKN’s reputation as a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
“The accusation made by the opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his speech on the 2021 Budget in parliament said that Penggerak Komuniti Tempatan (PeKT) channelling the fund to PKN is inaccurate and irresponsible,” she said.
She stressed that PKN is an NGO that operates independently and relies on voluntarism.
“The activists did not receive any salary and all activities are being done on a spirit-of-volunteerism basis.
“While PeKT is an administrative initiative under the Ministry of Housing and Local Government as a mechanism that focuses and strengthens the implementation of the National Community Policy,” she explained.
On Nov 9, Anwar Ibrahim said that PeKT was politically motivated and criticised the RM8.6 million allocation.
He said the allocation would be better channelled to frontliners battling the scourge of Covid-19.
It was previously reported that PeKT is linked to the controversial PKN, which also consists of former Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) members who are dissatisfied with Anwar.
It is learned that PeKT was approved by the cabinet on Nov 23, 2018, to empower and deceive the community according to the demographic suitability of an area and the local community. It was launched on Feb 17 Feb, 2019 by the then prime minister.
