He said it was not unusual for army personnel to be stationed in a camp that was in the midst of construction if they were needed for operations there.
Replying to Anthony Loke (DAP-Seremban), he told the Dewan Rakyat that there were also other bases, such as the 5th Battalion Border Regiment in Sarawak, that needed officers to be transferred there although the bases were not yet ready.
“There are tasks that need to be undertaken in those areas.
“Even though the camp is not ready, the officers already have work that they need to do there,” Johari said.
On Oct 31, DAP claimed that the Segamat camp, which was being developed, had more than a thousand newly-registered army voters.
Its Mengkibol assemblyman, Tan Hong Pin, said the base was scheduled to be completed in April 2018, but 1,051 army voters had been newly registered in the constituency.
The Segamat parliamentary seat is held by MIC president Dr S Subramaniam, who won it by a majority of 1,217 votes against PKR’s Chua Jui Meng in the general election of May 2013.
On Nov 1, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the claim made no sense.
“Nobody in his right mind would want to go to a place which is not conducive to live in,” he said.
“It is also crazy to transfer military personnel without preparing housing there because those sent there will not vote for us (ruling Barisan Nasional). Logically speaking, that makes no sense,” he added.
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