Fed up with the disparaging personal attacks on her husband, PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who has so far kept a dignified silence, slammed Barisan Nasional and Umno campaigners for waging an argot war on Anwar Ibrahim.
MCPX“What wrong has my husband done to the Malays, non-Malays and the country that he must be slandered and slaughtered with such scornful lies?” she asked some 200 single mothers at a PKR by-election gathering in Bukit Jelutong, Permatang Pauh yesterday evening.
Stressing that the personal attacks on her husband have affected her and her children deeply, the former Permatang Pauh member of parliament said the current hostile campaign waged on Anwar also revealed that Umno leaders have lost their conscience.
“They are not bothered that their sordid falsehoods are hurting my family,” said Wan Azizah, who was close to tears as she went on to narrate her family’s suffering during Anwar’s six-year stay in Sungai Buloh prison on a graft conviction.
Her resignation late last month triggered the parliamentary by-election, which Anwar aims to win to return as an elected parliamentarian after a 10-year absence.
He faces Umno’s Arif Shah Omar Shah and Akim president Hanafi Hamat in a three-cornered by-election.
The PD incident
The opposition stalwart hopes to use the by-election as the launching pad to trigger a change in the federal government by Malaysia Day on Sept 16.
While Anwar has kept his campaign within the national agenda, BN has embarked on an all-out character assassination campaign against the PKR supremo.
However, a quick survey showed that the BN-Umno campaign, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, has not made a good impression on most constituents, especially the non-Malay and younger Malay voters.
Even certain BN component party leaders have tacitly admitted that Umno’s war against the Pakatan Rakyat premier-designate has alienated many non-Malay constituents.
They argued that while the campaign would guarantee some votes from communal-based Malay constituents, it will prove counter productive with non-Malays, younger Malays and professionals.
Last night Anwar threatened to reveal the ‘Port Dickson incident‘ if Najib and company failed to halt their hate campaign against him.
‘Open your eyes’BN’s constant libellous remarks on her husband finally took a toll on the normally cool and ever-smiling Wan Azizah, who condemned the government’s by-election propaganda as the ‘most racist and fetid’ campaign she had ever witnessed.
The qualified ophthalmologist called on Permatang Pauh voters to ‘open up their eyes and ears to all the wrongdoings happening around them’ and to vote wisely on Aug 26.
“I cannot think of anyone in Malaysian politics who has ever suffered like Anwar. He has come back to his constituency hoping to earn his rightful place in Parliament.
“I hope all of you will not let me and him down,” said Wan Azizah.
Later, function organiser Permatang Pauh-based NGO Yayasan Aman’s welfare bureau chairperson Noordin Abdullah, handed out cash aid to the single mothers.
Anwar Ibrahim Club
21/08/08
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