PAS, BN trade personal attacks against candidates

Normala kissing the hand of Ma’arof during nomination day last Saturday. — Picture by Choo Choy May

LABIS, Jan 28 — The Barisan Nasional (BN) campaign made Normala Sudirman’s husband Ma’arof Abd Mutalib a campaign target today over his alleged depression-related extended medical.

PAS leaders however continued to harp on BN candidate Azahar Ibrahim’s involvement in a land scam when he was serving as Segamat assistant district officer accusing the Umno man of lying when he said he was only a witness in the case.

Since last night, copies of Ma’arof’s three medical certificates issued by a government and a private clinic have been circulating on pro-Umno blogs, questioning his integrity as a teacher.

The certificates granted Ma’arof 21 days of medical leave saying Ma’arof has been suffering from “depressive mood”.

Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia in its front page report quoting an Umno blog today questioned if Ma’arof is fit to continue teacher and accused the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tenang teacher of lying as he has been seen following his wife on the campaign trail.

PAS however defended Ma’arof saying that such a certificate was a private document and should not have been leaked to public.

“Medical certificates are private documents between the employer and employee, furthermore the MC does not say he was suffering from any chronic illness,” said PAS treasurer Dr Hatta Ramli.

“The MC says depressive mood, it could be caused by news of his transfer, and perhaps the best treatment was for him to spend time with his family, you have to ask the doctor not the patient who was only seeking treatment,” Dr Hatta told reporters at the PAS’s press conference here.

He added that Ma’arof was not campaigning but was merely accompanying Normala to meet with voters.

Meanwhile PAS campaign accused Azahar of lying for claiming that he was only a witness in a land deal case that started in 2003.

“Although PAS’s revelation on the Umno candidate was made based on court’s documents, the candidate continues to lie to the people of Tenang,” said PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub.

PAS had said that Azahar had caused a private land to be auctioned illegally in 2003 resulting in a legal action against the Umno man.

In its first attack against Azahar early this week, PAS claimed that Azahar had carelessly issued an order to sell off the property owned by Mansor Mohamad without his knowledge. - Malaysian Insider