A caretaker government must be neutral in election campaigns as any financial allocations and subsidies granted or pledged during the campaign period would be tantamount to vote-buying, money politics and corruption, said DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang today.

As such, the Sarawak state government, which is now a caretaker government following the dissolution of the state assembly, is in no position to make any financial allocations for development projects, said Lim in a press statement.

The state assembly was dissolved on Aug 27 for the 62-seat state elections which will be held on Sept 27.

"The blatant use of the government machinery and public funds for the purpose of soliciting votes, which was what the Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud did, comes clearly under the definition of election offences and corrupt practice under the election laws," said the veteran politician.

Lim was referring to election promises by Taib yesterday that the state government will allocate RM150,000 for a village mosque's new roofing and another RM100,000 for the construction of a new road and proper street lighting in the same village.

The DAP leader said the Election Commission should give advance warning that it would lodge police reports against the caretaker chief minister and his state ministers over their monetary pledges during campaign periods.

'Normal thing'

Lim also said he was surprised by a statement made by EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman yesterday that it was a "normal thing" for ministers of a caretaker government to announce or give on-the-spot financial allocations during campaigns.

The New Straits Times reported Abdul Rashid as saying that the EC cannot prevent ministers from giving projects and announcing allocations during campaigns as "there is no law to prevent them".

"This has to be accepted by all ... this is a normal thing for the ministers to do even during election time ... it can't be construed as a way of campaigning or misuse of power," said the commissioner.

However, Lim said that it was an accepted practice and principle that a caretaker government merely performs the rudimentary duties of the government during the transition period from the dissolution of the state assembly to the establishment of a new government.

"The EC chair has totally misconceived the situation when he said there is no law to prevent caretaker ministers from giving projects during campaigns," said Lim.

The EC should demonstrate its independence and credibility by stopping the electoral abuses of the caretaker government in Sarawak, he challenged.