The People's Association (PA) did not use public funds to buy bird's nest for Aljunied residents, and a picture of the item packed as a gift is not related to the ongoing general election campaign, the Kaki Bukit Community Centre said yesterday.

It was responding to a post by the Sin Rak Sin Party Facebook page, which last Saturday posted a picture of two bottles of bird's nest wrapped together with a PA name card bearing Mr Shamsul Kamar's name.

Mr Shamsul is the adviser to the Kaki Bukit grassroots organisation in Aljunied GRC. He is also part of the five-member People's Action Party (PAP) team contesting in Aljunied GRC in the July 10 election.

In a statement, the Kaki Bukit Community Centre said: "It has come to our attention that a post has been circulating alleging that PA had used public funds to purchase bird's nest for Aljunied residents in order to buy votes during GE2020.

"We wish to clarify that the bird's nest (packs) were donated by grassroots leaders. They were given to Merdeka Generation residents who attended the Kaki Bukit Health Fiestas held in June and August 2019 as tokens of appreciation for their contribution to nation building."

It added that the packs that were not distributed at the events were subsequently given to families under the Kaki Bukit social assistance programmes.

Last week, Mr Shamsul was accused of offering meals from fast-food restaurant Texas Chicken after a copy of a letter dated June 27 was posted online. The letter, written in Malay, was for a food distribution event on July 4.

Mr Shamsul, who denied the allegation, said that planning for this event started before the election was announced. He has postponed the event until after the polls, and apologised to residents.