TANAH MERAH: The free bus services provided by the state government for students of higher learning institutions to enable them to return to Kelantan to vote in the coming election is not aimed as a bribe, says Kelantan caretaker menteri besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob.
Ahmad, who is also Pas deputy spiritual leader, said that the services provided is in part of the Kelantan government's responsibility towards their students.
He said the state government has no plans to cancel it as they have already been promised to students.
"We are offering the free service to help them, not to bribe them to vote for Pas.
"Certain quarters have accused Pas of trying to buy votes but what about the Deputy Prime Minister's remarks recently on allocations for Terengganu?," he said.
Ahmad who is state chairman for Perikatan Nasional (PN) told this to reporters after launching the election manifesto here last night.
He then urged the relevant authorities to make a clear policy on the issue.
On Sunday, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said there was nothing wrong in the announcement made by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of hundreds of thousands of ringgit in grants to several bodies in Terengganu in exchange for support for the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in the coming state polls.
MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the agency viewed the grants as a federal allocation.
On July 28, Zahid who is also the rural and regional development minister announced RM100,000 for a youth organisation to be channelled through the Central Terengganu Development Authority or Ketengah.
He also announced RM250,000 for the Terengganu Youth Council and RM200,000 for motorcycle rider associations, adding that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim would later "top up" the amounts.
Zahid then said that the allocations were on condition that Terengganu youths would support the "blue and red wave", a reference to the BH-PH coalition which is aiming to wrest the state in the Aug 12 polls.