Does Mastura Yazid aspire to be a politician, or was her arm twisted by Umno Baru? Accepting the candidacy, even if against her better judgment, makes her fair game. If she wants to be a politician, she must be prepared to take the heat, and our criticisms.

It appears that George Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’ is alive and kicking in Kuala Kangsar (KK). Mastura is Umno Baru’s phantom candidate, and the electorate will only see her image, on the back of a lorry.

How ungracious of Umno Baru! Three lorries carrying giant LED video screens, will beam Mastura’s image in ‘live’ and recorded appearances, during campaigning.

So, what else is new? We are governed by remote control from the luxury stores of Monaco, London and New York. Ghost voters spooked us in GE13, and now, we have a phantom election candidate.

Umno Baru must be desperate to nominate Mastura, if it cannot field another candidate. We want to see Mastura in the flesh, observe how she interacts with the crowd, and how she responds, under pressure, to a volley of questions.

Her absence is a sore point and undermines our confidence in her. We have much to ask, and would look foolish if we were to question the back of a lorry.

If Mastura had been present during door-to-door canvassing, or at a ceramah, these are some of the questions I would have asked.

My list of queries

1. You have been recently widowed. In 2010, Linda Tsen, the widow of the former Batu Sapi MP, Edmund Chong, represented BN in the by-election of 2010, and won.

Do you think you are being used by Umno Baru to gain sympathy votes?

2. The party machinery has made you look like a member of the elite. Muslim working women, who are widowed, do not have the liberty to stay away from work, and public spaces, for 130 days.

Women make up 50 percent of the Malaysian workforce. Factories, agriculture, offices, schools, universities, hospitals, shops and the civil service, would be incapacitated and suffer multi-million ringgit losses. The economy would suffer if Muslim women were to emulate you. What are your views on this?

3. Umno Baru consulted members of the National Fatwa Council and the Perak mufti, Harussani Zakaria, to show the electorate that religious leaders consented, to your candidacy, whilst observing the ‘iddah’ (mourning) period.

You may have started a dangerous precedent. Other working Muslim widows may want to excuse themselves from work and their responsibilities during ‘iddah’.

Do you think employers who receive an official recommendation from the religious department will have to agree to a widow’s request for 130 days leave? Whose views do you represent? The widow’s? The businessman’s? Or Umno Baru’s?

4. Religion has been made a contentious issue in Malaysia, by your party. A person, even a Muslim, with a business to run, would think twice about hiring a woman.

Some employers are anxious when women take long leave for childbirth, or to nurse sick children. The ‘iddah’ period, will make employers prefer men, and non-Muslim staff. Even Muslim female business owners do not run charities.

What are your views about mourning and the working Muslim women?

5. One can be a devout Muslim, without having to consult Muslim scholars about piety.

If you agree to Muslim widows observing ‘iddah’, should this rule extend to Indonesian Muslim employees in the pasar, kedai runcit, restaurants, and maids? How will you enforce this?

Damaging allegations about Najib

6. There have been damaging allegations about Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s involvement in the Saudi Arabian ‘donation’ scandal, the 1MDB corruption scandal, and his close ties with Jho Low, who owns Good Star Limited.

What are your views about 1MDB, and the hundreds of millions of ringgit of taxpayers’ money, allegedly deposited by Jho Low into Najib's personal account? There is no smoke without fire. Why would seven nations be investigating 1MDB and its finances?

7. What are your views on the financial scandals concerning Lembaga Tabung Haji (The Pilgrimage Fund), that prompted many Muslims to withdraw their savings from it?

8. The men in charge of zakat funds are allegedly living in luxury, and sue anyone who makes allegations about their mismanagement and incompetence. Why is it difficult for the poor to obtain zakat money?

9. You are a lawyer, trained at Lincoln’s Inn and you practised law for seven years. Muslim women claim syariah law discriminates against them. The Hudud Bill of PAS’ Hadi Awang is on the horizon.

Do you agree that Malaysia can have at least two systems of law?

10. Are you against sex education in schools? How would you deal with the thousands of unmarried, teenage Malay mothers?

11. Why is Umno Baru discarding the normal democratic process, which allows the rakyat to question the candidate, and ask her to explain her policies and aspirations for her constituency?

12. Umno Baru cannot field a candidate who can campaign properly. How do you respond to criticism that there is something fishy about your candidacy?

13. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the Deputy PM, said that you have a lot of experience in national politics, because you used to accompany your late husband, when he was the state assemblyperson for Bukit Chandan (2004 -2013) and the KK MP (2013-2016).

Do you agree that when politicians die, their spouses can take over, just because they used to accompany their spouse? Isn’t Zahid treating the electorate like fools?

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.