Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) candidate Wan Razali Wan Kadir who contested and lost the Taman Medan state seat in last month's general election, has sent a letter of demand to the PAS candidate who stood at the same constituency, seeking more than RM2 million in damages.

Wan Razali ( left ) told malaysiakini that his solicitors Messrs Zaman Teng & Chan had sent the letter of demand to PAS Taman Medan division chief Ghazali Shaari. He claimed Ghazali was responsible for his election loss and had also smeared his character during campaigning.

Wan Razali is seeking RM5,000 for the loss of his election deposit, another RM70,000 for campaign expenses and another RM2 million for libel.

Apart from this, he is also demanding a public apology from Ghazali to be published in the PAS party organ Harakah , the Keadilan party organ Seruan Keadilan and all major mainstream news dailies.

Wan Razali who is a lawyer, also said a similar letter of demand was sent to the PAS Selangor Commissioner Dr Hassan Ali, whom he said should be responsible for Ghazali's actions.

He said Ghazali and Hassan have until May 4 to respond to his demand, failing which a civil suit will be filed at the Shah Alam High Court.

Asked if he had consulted Keadilan leaders on his intention to initiate court action against Ghazali and Hassan, the Keadilan Petaling Jaya Selatan division chief replied in the affirmative.

'Not so rosy'

"They told me to focus on the election irregularities. But it is me who suffered monetary loss and humiliation. People are whispering behind my back about me losing badly.

"I have to make sure that they pay for their actions," he said.

While admitting his civil suit threat may further strain Keadilan's partnership with PAS within the Barisan Alternatif (BA) front, Wan Razali said that ties between the two were "... already strained".

"Things are not so rosy anymore. Keadilan Selangor Youth has already asked that ties with PAS be severed. PAS members are always making unfair demands.

They always threatened to withdraw their election machinery if they didn't get certain seats but their machinery means nothing when it comes to polling," he said.

Attempts to contact Ghazali failed. Hassan, when reached, said that he has yet to receive the demand letter and was therefore unable to comment.

Credibility questioned

The four-page letter of demand, made available to malaysiakini, stated that Ghazali had refused to withdraw from contesting at Taman Medan although BA's top leadership had officially announced that the coalition would be represented solely by a Keadilan candidate.

It said Ghazali had acted in bad faith by contesting the March 21 polls and this had led to a split in votes among BA supporters.

"Our client lost badly due to the split votes and his election deposit was forfeited," added the lawyer's letter.

It also claimed that Ghazali and his representatives had publicly defamed Wan Razali during the election campaign period from March 13 to March 21. It claimed this was done by associating him with former Keadilan leader Ruslan Kasim who defected to Umno ( photo ).

"You, your agent and supporters had spread lies stating alleging that our client was a proxy to Ruslan Kassin and that he (Wan Razali) would cross over to Umno is he wins," said Wan Razali's lawyer.

As a result, it claimed that Wan Razali's loyalty and credibility were questioned by both party leaders and members alike. "Following his loss, our client as a professional was isolated and subjected to cynical remarks from both the public and other lawyers."

The letter also claimed that Ghazali's agents and supporters had threatened to harm Wan Razali after the latter gave an interview to local news station NTV7 in which he said that he was the rightful BA candidate, and not Ghazali.

Disciplinary action

Meanwhile, PAS Selangor liaison committee secretary Norman Taha said PAS had tried all means to get Ghazali and Mohd Haslim Hassan, its Dengkil candidate, to withdraw from contesting against Keadilan candidates at the two constituencies.

"The party is not responsible for the actions committed by Ghazali and Haslim and we did our best to ensure a straight fight between BA and BN at this two places," he said.

He said both Ghazali and Mohd Haslim will be facing the party's disciplinary committee soon.

The bid for the Taman Medan state seat saw a four-cornered fight which was eventually won by Barisan Nasional's Abdul Wahab Ibrahaim who obtained 18,191 votes beating Ghazali (4,663), Wan Razali (3,292) and independent candidate Kamarul Jaman Seeni Mohideen (641).

Dengkil saw a three-cornered fight between BN's Suhaimi Ghazali, PAS' Mohd Haslim and Keadilan's Husin Dahlan. Suhaimi won with 12,336 votes while Haslim and Husin only managed to obtain 4,038 and 932 votes respectively.

Ghazali and Mohd Haslim had gone ahead and contested the state seats after PAS had announced that it would withdraw its candidates at Taman Medan and Dengkil state to make way Keadilan candidates.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had warned the duo that they would be sacked if they went ahead with their plans to contest.