Malaysian Chronicle, Friday, 14 March 2014
KAJANG As the Kajang by-election entered its fourth day today, the
presence of some BN-friendly and anti-Pakatan leaflets are becoming more
prominent in the campaign.
A leaflet titled ‘Selangor Hari Ini’ (Selangor Today) was sighted by Malaysiakini at an Umno operations centre recently.
Another leaflet titled ‘Sate Town’
was distributed during a Mesra Rakyat programme at Taman Kota Cheras
Fasa 1, which was attended by over 500 people last night.
Both the leaflets, however, did not have the names of the publisher and printer on them.
The ‘Selangor Hari Ini’ leaflet,
which was 16 pages thick, had articles and commentaries running down
opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for being “eager” to become the Selangor
menteri besar and forcing a by-election.
It also contained quotes attributed to PAS Youth objecting to Anwar’s possible appointment as MB.
The controversy surrounding the
Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) was also touched upon,
followed by a caricature depicting a man stepping on the heads of his
three friends in order to get to Putrajaya.
The ‘Sate Town’ leaflet, meanwhile,
made comparisons between the by-election candidates, BN’s Chew Mei Fun
and PKR’s Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The comparison highlighted the
“lies” of Anwar in the past and also his alleged manipulation in coming
up with the ‘Kajang Move’.
It listed the seven “failures” of PKR’s former assemblyperson for Kajang, Lee Chin Cheh.
The leaflet even used the lyrics of a song sung by popular dangdut singer Herman Tino to criticise Anwar.
Herman, who contested the Tanjong
Karang parliamentary seat in the general elections as an independent and
lost his deposit, initially planned to contest the Kajang by-election
against Anwar but did not nominate himself.
The by-election attracted many
possible independent candidates, including former de facto law minister
Zaid Ibrahim, when it was announced that Anwar would contest the seat in
a bid to enter the state legislative assembly.
This was a move to eventually
install Anwar as the next MB, but this was soon curtailed when the Court
of Appeal found Anwar guilty of sodomy against his former aide, Saiful
Bukhari Azlan, last week.
This disqualified Anwar, who is
appealing against the decision, from becoming a candidate for the
by-election, leading to PKR nominating Anwar’s wife, current PKR
president Wan Azizah instead.
Interest of Independents dropped
This eventually dropped the
interests of the host of Independent candidates to contest the seat,
leaving it to be a straight fight between two women.
Meanwhile, PKR Sri Muda assemblyperson Shuhaimi Shafiei said that a police report will be lodged at 3pm today.
“It is a breach of Section 11(1)(c)
of the Election Offences Act as the printer’s name is not disclosed on
the materials,” he said.
He said that PKR “agents” had
collected the newsletters, leaflets and a booklet collating alleged
accounts of Anwar’s “former friends”, at BN operation centres in Sungai
Kantan, Saujana Impian, Sungai Sekamat and Sungai Chua.
PKR supporters in the constituency also told the party that they had received the material in their letterboxes last night.
“As the items were found at the BN
operations centre, BN is the suspect,” he said, adding that the
materials are “libellous”. -Malaysiakini
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