Anwar promises to keep it clean, vows no personal attacks during by-election campaign

Anwar brushes off the tactics that may be used by the Barisan Nasional against him in Kajang as 'nothing new'. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, February 3, 2014.PKR defacto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will not stoop to personal attacks against any Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders while campaigning in the upcoming Kajang by-election eventhough his opponents have vowed to do just that.

Instead, Anwar pledged to stick to his usual campaign issues such as rising inflation, abuse of power by the BN and government corruption to win over Kajang voters.

"This is nothing new. Since 1998, they have been attacking me on this," Anwar said in response to media reports that the BN will use his two sodomy court cases as issues against him in the by-election.

"It’s the same thing every by-election, so why should I be intimidated. In fact, where are all the Umno ustaz when it comes to this? Where are the Islamic ethics?" Anwar said in an interview with The Malaysian Insider today.

Umno information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan has said that the BN will use the by-election as an opportunity to "expose" alleged sexual misconduct by Anwar, particularly related to the latter's two sodomy court cases.

Anwar has been charged twice for committing sodomy, first in 1998 and then in 2008. He was acquitted of both charges.

Anwar is Pakatan Rakyat's Kajang by-election candidate after polls were triggered by the resignation of its assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh on January 27.

BN has yet to announce a candidate, but it is expected to field one from its Chinese component party MCA.

"I do not want to win Kajang by talking about the juicy details of the private lives of BN leaders. I will focus on development, economic problems and the welfare of the Kajang people.

"And also the future of Selangor and our commitment to wrest control of Putrajaya," said Anwar.

The Kajang state seat has 38,965 registered voters. Malays make up 48% of voters, Chinese 41%, Indian 10% and others 1%.

In the 2013 general election, PKR’s Lee garnered 19,571 votes followed by Lee Ban Seng of the BN with 12,747 votes. Mohamad Ismail of Berjasa obtained 1,014 votes.

The three independent candidates who contested the seat are Mohd Iwan Jefrey Abdul Majib (249 votes), Ong Yan Foo (85 votes) and Mohd Khalid Kassim (83 votes).

Lee won the seat with a comfortable 6,824-vote majority.

Earlier, the Election Commission (EC) ticked off Ahmad Maslan for announcing a "sex and smut" campaign as part of BN's strategy for the Kajang by-election.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof told The Malaysian Insider that Ahmad Maslan's statement was against the spirit of vote canvassing and the code of ethics for election campaigning.

He warned BN and Pakatan Rakyat that candidates are not allowed to make seditious remarks or defame their rivals during campaigning.

"We will monitor this... I see this as more of a personal attack and it is also not allowed," he said.