Praba claims all’s good with Tian Chua.
Batu MP P Prabakaran said he will not vacate his parliamentary seat even if he is paid RM1 million.
The youngest MP in the current session of Parliament said he would not be moved if such an offer was made, because he had already turned down that sum of money when pressured to withdraw from contesting the seat in the 14th general election last year.
“I have been given the mandate by voters in this parliamentary constituency, and so even if I’m offered RM1 million, I still have to answer to my constituents.
“When I contested as an independent last year, I was offered RM1 million to pull out, so if I bow to pressure to vacate the seat now, what will that say about my principles?” the 23-year-old PKR lawmaker was quoted as saying.
He said one should never enter politics for the money.
“I made the decision to contest for elections to help the people. If I was thinking about money, I would have quit already,” Prabakaran added.
It was reported that he said Tian Chua has nothing to do with the call by 14 NGOs for him to vacate his seat in favour of the reformasi veteran.
“Tian Chua has nothing to do with this. He is not the mastermind (of the idea). He is a gentleman,” Prabakaran told Malaysiakini.
“My relationship with him remains good. Although we rarely talk, it doesn’t matter. I always respect him as a veteran politician in PKR,” added Prabakaran.
Prabakaran won Batu after PKR threw its support behind the independent candidate in the 2018 general election. He joined PKR shortly after winning the seat.
On nomination day, the Election Commission (EC) disqualified Tian Chua, who had served as MP for the seat for 10 years, from contesting
However, on Nov 6, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the EC had erred and that Tian Chua had been qualified to contest in GE14 and could contest in future elections.
Tian Chua has denied any role in the NGOs’ push for him to make a comeback, stressing that his legal challenge was to put on record that the EC had erred and was not to trigger a by-election.
Prabakaran did not rule out the possibility that some parties were trying to create a dispute between him and Tian Chua.
“There may be people trying to create something between me and Tian. They have their own interests in this,” Prabakaran said without revealing their identities.
“As an MP, I will continue to do my work in Batu,” he added.
Prabakaran also went on to deny a news report in which a source claimed that he had rapidly depleted his constituency’s allocation of RM1.5million.
A PKR grassroots member told The Malaysian Insight the Batu chapter has reservations about the way the money was disbursed.
“In just a few months, he has spent almost all the money and from what we know, there is just some RM20,000 left. For three months, he was working with us (PKR) but then he went solo.
“We were told that he gave money to mosques and schools, but is that true? Is there proof?” said the PKR member who wanted to remain anonymous.
A source from Prabakaran’s office confirmed the figure but claimed the money was spent on the development of Batu.
“Some 39 schools received funding as much as RM10,000 to RM13,000 each. This does not include money given to the poor in the area and some development work for the constituency,” the source, who declined to be named, told The Malaysian Insight.
The source added that the funds were given to the MP by the federal government in February with the condition it must be used by September.
“It will be audited. It has all been accounted for,” he said, dismissing any possibility of abuse of funds.
“I still have some leftover funds,” Prabakaran revealed.
“Those who are accusing me, please come to my office. I’m ready to show you how the funds have been allocated,” he added.
Checks on Facebook showed Prabakaran actively distributing the funds for his constituency.
PKR strategy director Fahmi Fadzil said Prabakaran is a committed lawmaker.
“He is young, but he is committed and knows the problem in his area. He gets his hands dirty. He knows the problems faced by the people,” said the Lembah Pantai MP.
Earlier report: Nov 18, Batu MP Praba: I Won’t Ditch My Voters Midway