The prime minister said it was mere coincidence that the announcements were made ahead of the by-election there on Nov 16.

“We are only carrying out our responsibilities with the allocations,” he told reporters at the Parliament today.

Yesterday, parliamentary opposition leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob accused Pakatan Harapan (PH) of abusing government machinery ahead of the Tanjung Piai polls.

“They have said before to not buy votes before the election, not use government machinery, not use government positions to buy votes.

“But now they’re the ones buying votes,” Ismail had said.

This was after election watch Bersih 2.0 took PH to task for announcing federal projects and allocations close to the by-election.

Bersih also urged PH to bar federal ministers from visiting Tanjung Piai.

Former prime minister Najib Razak had said some RM7.3 million worth of projects and allocations were announced so far for Tanjung Piai.