Johor Education Department director Markom Giran has confirmed that his department had attempted to transfer the husband of Labis PAS Wanita chief Normala Sudirman.

NONE However, Markom ( left ) said the transfer notice, dated Dec 27, had nothing to do with the by-election.

The notice directed the transfer of Makrof Abdul Mutalib, who teaches at SK Tenang Stesyen, to a school in Pasir Gudang, Johor Bahru some 200km away from Jan 1.

"At the time we were not aware that his wife would be chosen as the PAS candidate. But after we heard about her candidacy, we decided to cancel the transfer notice temporarily. We don't want it to become a political issue," explained Markom when contacted today.

Last night, PAS announced that Normala is its candidate for the Tenang by-election on Jan 30.

'Politically motivated'

PAS and Makrof have claimed that the notice, which gave him only three days to prepare for the transfer, was politically motivated and was meant to punish a teacher with family members who support the opposition.

Makrof, who has been teaching in Tenang for 13 years, claimed that he was told by his headmaster that the reason for the transfer was because he could not "control his wife" from participating in opposition politics.

The notice was retracted after the couple lodged a complaint with the district education department, according to Makrof.

Markom stressed that the transfer notice has nothing to do with politics but because Pasir Gudang is short of 457 teachers.

"It has nothing to do with politics," he repeated.