SG BESAR POLLS Sekinchan assemblyperson Ng Suee Lim has accused BN Sungai Besar candidate Budiman Mohd Zohdi of "stealing" four billboards DAP put up at two roundabouts yesterday, and replacing it with his own banners.

The original billboards featured anti-BN messages on several banners and have been taken down under orders from Election Commission officers.

"I was shocked when I saw our billboards have been stolen by someone," Ng told a joint press conference at his office here.

"I thought that as an assemblyperson, he should know who owns which billboards, instead of stealing ours."

Amanah information chief Khalid Samad also quipped the act was "kurang Budiman" (ungentlemanly) and Ng added,"tak berbudi dan tak beriman" (ungentlemanly and unfaithful).

Ng later brought reporters down to the site of the billboards, where he pointed out that the ones owned by BN were smaller and made of wood, while the DAP ones were from metal.

As he was talking, Ng spotted Budiman, who was also walking around the area.

Ng approached Budiman for an explanation but the Sungai Panjang assemblyperson said he would only respond at a press conference this afternoon.

"I didn't do it. Maybe he (Ng) did it to sabotage me," said Budiman.

When Ng persisted, Budiman merely said: "That's why, brother. We don't talk here because it could lead to a fight."

'Wearing a coat is also not my procedure'

At a press conference later, Budiman denied he has anything to do with the billboards, stating that the images go against his standard procedure.

“Wearing a coat and blazer is also not my procedure. I will not wear a blazer in kampung area or baju Melayu in Chinese-majority areas.

“Even today I come here only wearing a T-shirt. It can’t be that I will suddenly wear a blazer. I am a kampung boy,” he said.

Budiman also described the billboards as an attempt to sow seeds of political hatred in Sungai Besar.

“We should not be dazzled by campaigns that could eventually lower our intellect,” he stressed.

DAP national organising secretary Tony Pua yesterday admitted the party was behind the inflammatory banners campaigning for Amanah in the upcoming Sungai Besar by-election.