Umno Wanita chief and the caretaker International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz today said she will lodge a report with the Election Commission (EC) over the distribution of fliers that accuse her of being corrupt.

She said the opposition have been distributing these fliers in her parliamentary constituency Kuala Kangsar in Perak

"To me, this is slander, an offence under the Election Offences Act 1954.

"I'm keeping the fliers and are gathering evidence. I'll hand them to the returning officer for this constituency.

"I'm very angry when people talk nonsense about me. I cannot accept the corruption accusation. I hold to the principle of trust," she was quoted as saying in a Bernama report.

Apologise

The minister said she would not forgive those who slander her unless those responsible personally apologise because slandering of that nature was not only a sin in Islam but also poisoned the people's mind.

"I will be with Ramly Zahari (BN candidate for Manong state seat) to prepare the evidence and present it to the Election Commission. We cannot allow them to breach the Election Act.

"This slander happen maybe because they have no issues in Kuala Kangsar. So, they launch personal attacks. I'm an easy target for them to attack," she said.

Rafidah, who is defending the seat for the fifth term, is being challenged by PAS candidate Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

In 1999, Rafidah bagged 12,074 votes, or a majority of 2,774 votes, to defeat PAS' Asmuni Awi who got 9,300 votes.

There are 28,391 registered voters in Kuala Kangsar, of which 65 percent are Malays, 27 percent Chinese and 7.4 percent Indians.

Dirty tactics

However, the minister is confident that the slander would not dampen her chances of winning because the voters in Kuala Kangsar supported the BN.

"But, don't forget they've (opposition) supporters here and surely, they want to maintain their support. I received information from other component parties the support for BN was far better now than in 1999," she said.

Rafidah said the opposition were fond of launching personal attacks against national leaders in their campaign.

She also exposed a tactic used by some opposition candidates on a door-to-door whisper campaign giving goodies to voters to fish for votes, an act which violates the election regulations.

"We received feedback from Indians that the opposition gave them bread when canvassing for votes.

"In Malay-majority areas, PAS gave them bags of rice complete with PAS symbol. We've the evidence to be handed to the Election Commission," she said.

Rafidah had been the subject of an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) but Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim stated later that there were no grounds to prosecute her.

Khir Toyo

In a related development, Selangor Umno Youth today lodged a complaint with the EC over opposition pamphlets which it claimed defamed Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.

Its chief, Radin Mokhtar Mohamed Yusof, submitted the complaint to state election officer at the state EC office.

He said the pamphlets published by the Selangor PAS liaison committee were distributed at Masjid Negeri in Shah Alam after the Friday prayers.

"The mosque should be an apolitical place and not a platform to distribute political pamphlets," he told reporters after lodging the complaint.

He added that he would inform Mohd Khir of the matter and lodge a police report soon.

The pamphlets accused the menteri besar of corruption and obstructing the implementation of true Islam and Umno of buying over Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) members.