A Wyndham council candidate has sympathised with councillor Intaj Khan over an online scandal.
Truganina resident Joh Bauch has also called on other candidates and residents to refrain from online bullying and personal attacks in the lead-up to the October election.
Mr Bauch, 33, said he was the subject of bullying in the lead-up to the 2012 election that included posters being stolen or disfigured, pot plants stolen from the front of his house and a text message saying “I hope you die of cancer”.
“It was hard because at the time my dad did have prostate cancer,” Mr Bauch said.
“People who do these things should be reported and should be punished accordingly, because it’s bullying. With Intaj, they’ve started it … it’s sort of like they’ve set him up.
“People have feelings. Intaj has feelings, I do as well … it’s not on. It’s emotionally draining and it really has to stop.”
Meanwhile, Cr Khan has responded to criticism of comments made under his Facebook name in which a Facebook community page user was labelled a “faceless, racist pussy”.
“I would like to make it clear that I don’t manage my Facebook page,” Cr Khan said. “The comments made were by my social media administrator.
“I would like to apologise on behalf of my social media administrator for the posts and material that may have caused any offence.”
Cr Khan said the use of the word “pussy” was a typo and and the administrator instead meant “pussycat”. His social media administrator was no longer managing his Facebook profile, he added.
He dismissed claims the comments published under his name were threatening.
“They were inappropriate but there was no threat made,” he said.
“I do, however, have concerns about the racism going on in our city.
“People are contributing to the divide when we should be focussing on bringing the community together.”
