GE13: SAPP candidate offered RM400K not to contest – YTL

KOTA KINABALU: SAPP candidate for Lahad Datu, Aliandu Injil was offered RM400,000 if he opted out of the contest for the east coast State seat.

“They were at his house till 2.00am on Nomination Day (April 20) trying to convince him not to file his papers,” SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said.

“That is a lot of spare cash but I am glad to say that our man told his visitors that he fancied his dignity more than cold cash.”

Aliandu (photo) is a former community development leader under UMNO as well as a councillor of the Lahad Datu district council and is of local Suluk origin.

He is involved in a four-cornered fight with Yusoff Apdal of UMNO, Ariffin Hamid of STAR and Hamid Awong of PKR.

Asked how he expected Aliandu to fare, Yong said: “We have put up candidates who can win; otherwise we would not have fielded them in the first place”.

Yong also alleged that SAPP candidate for Merotai, Ho Shau Vui were harassed by a group of eight guys, when he was on his campaign trial.

SAPP has also alleged that a national based opposition party had hired thugs from peninsular Malaysia to protect their (Sabah) candidates as well as to intimidate voters who did not want to vote for their party.

Dubbed the ‘red army” as they were identifiable by their red T-shirts, these thugs were especially noticeable at Foh Sang on Friday night where they patronised a coffee shop where an SAPP ceramah was held earlier.