Just as she reported ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's alleged immoral activities to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1997, Ummi Hafilda Ali is now planning to do the same on Puteri Umno head Azalina Othman Said.

She said today that she would not allow Azalina to walk free and lead the Puteri Umno movement because of what she claimed as Azalina's "unacceptable sexual preference."

Ummi vowed that she would do "exactly" what she did to the former deputy prime minister when Anwar was alleged to be involved in homosexual activities. Anwar was later found guilty of sodomy and is now in prison.

Speaking to malaysiakini today, Ummi said she would respond to Mahathir's call to her yesterday to prove her allegation that Azalina is a lesbian.

Shown the exit

Mahathir who is also Umno president made it clear that the party does not accept homosexual or lesbianism culture and leaders involved in such immoral activities will be shown the exit.

He was quoted in local dailies as saying that "Umno's stand on homosexuality and lesbianism is very clear".

"We do not accept this kind of culture. If you are involved in that kind of thing out you go", he said after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting.

Ummi said that she would lodge a police report [before Tuesday] on Azalina's misconduct with proof that had probably not been given to the police before, particularly on her (Azalina's) immoral activities.

"Besides, I will also send my report to the Umno disciplinary committee on Monday," she added.

Ummi has also been called to face the committee panel led by its chairperson Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen after breaching party ethics for allegedly making press statements to discredit Azalina during the movement's nomination period which ended on Oct 15.

Will meet Mahathir

The 35-year-old, who once told the court that she is still a virgin, also planned to see Mahathir to convince him about Azalina's misconducts and immoral activities.

"This time, I will be taking along several witnesses with me, like what I did to convince the prime minister about Anwar's misconduct," she added.

"Obviously, I have no problem to answer the prime minister's challenge to prove her (Azalina) immoral activities," she explained.

Ummi had recently said that the Umno leadership has to show that they were fair to Anwar by taking similar action against Azalina. She also urged Azalina to have the courage, as Anwar did, to prove her innocence if she had really done nothing wrong.

The allegation that Azalina is a lesbian was first raised in a Malay tabloid Perdana Sari in April by Khalid Jeffri, who also authored the book "50 Dalil Kenapa Anwar Tidak Boleh Menjadi Perdana Menteri" (50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Become Prime Minister).

Khalid is believed to have received information from several sacked Puteri Umno leaders and members who were close to Azalina during the wing's early days.

They turned against Azalina after claiming they were indiscriminately sacked by her just because they were seen as "potential threats" to Azalina's leadership.

Immoral leaders

The turmoil in Puteri Umno gained public prominence during the nomination period for the wing's inaugural election from Sept 16 to Oct 15, which saw five party members, including Ummi, offering themselves as contenders against Azalina.

However, Azalina believed to have been backed by top party leaders swept all the nominations from the wing's 165 divisions and retained her post uncontested.

In September, Azalina's former close aide Elly Zalilah Yusof had lodged a police report regarding her abuse of power.

Among others, Elly claimed that Azalina had registered four wing's vehicles under her brother's and girlfriend's names. They were said to have no link to Puteri Umno altogether.

Another allegation against her was that she had brought a luxury car for her lover who is the wife of a prominent businessman.

Elly also claimed that the 38-year-old Azalina who was handpicked by Mahathir to lead the movement had also misappropriated the wing's fund, including the collection for Afghanistan refugees which went missing.

Ummi said she would be hard on Azalina as she did not want to see immoral leaders in Umno, adding that she was not doing it for personal gain.